Of Blood and Steel
by Panzer4life
Summary: Riko 'Erwin' Matsumoto ends up being forced to move to the United States, where she takes the helm to lead Raven's Peak tankery team through the challenges of tankery championships. Will she be able to lead them to victory, or will the burden of others drag her down. Rewrite is up.
1. Chapter 1: A new beginning

**Author's Note: This is my (actual) second work of fan-fiction, and thus some things need to be addressed first;**

**1: I don't own 'Girls und Panzer'.**

**2: Constructive criticism is fine; flaming isn't, so if you want to leave a review of the story, please keep this in mind.**

**3: If any characters seem OOC, please note I have only watched the anime and a bit of GuP: Little Army. Please tell me if I got any of them wrong.**

**And with that, let us proceed. PANZER VOR!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1: A new beginning<strong>

Riko 'Erwin' Matsumoto was listening to 'Panzerlied' on her IPod, enjoying her summer break. The national Tankery championship was over, and Oarai High had become the champions, having beaten Kuromorimine Girls High School. After the celebrations, the parade, and the tankery feast, Erwin was ready to enjoy her summer break.

She was lounging on her patio, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, taking in the view. It was breathtaking, the sun glisten off the waves. She could however also see the town that made up the school ship, and she saw people going about their daily lives. She smiled, glad to have been a part of this school.

She was about to begin reading Vom Kriege, a book on military strategy written by a Prussian general, when the doorbell ringed. She put her book down, getting up.

"I wonder who that could be?" Erwin wondered aloud. She looked in the mirror, making sure she looked good. Her blonde hair was normal, forming two spikes that made her look like a desert fox, her tropical field Marshall uniform was neat and crisp, and her peak helmet fitted on her head.

Satisfied with how she looked, she went to the door, and opened it.

"Hello, who is… Mother?!" Erwin gasped, surprised by her mother's appearance. Her mother was wearing a black dress, and had a pair of white leather gloves on. Her hair was blonde, but unlike Erwin's, her fell straight down past her shoulders.

"My, how have you been Riko?" her mother asked, walking into Erwin's dorm. Erwin watched as her mother scanned her selection of various military strategy books, written by various German officers. Her mother turned to face her again, her face becoming stern. Erwin shook herself.

"I have been fine mother," Erwin replied. Her mother smiled. "I am sure you know that I am a part of the Tankery group here at Oarai." Her mother nodded.

"I did know that, did you think I didn't keep tabs on you while I was overseas on business meetings?" Erwin blushed, as that is what she thought. She wasn't close to her mother in anyway, but they weren't cold to one another like Miho was with her mother. She was about to apologize when her mother sat down on the couch.

"Riko, sit down, we need to talk," she said. Erwin sat down opposite of her mother, wondering what was so important. Her mother rested her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands. She sighed, feeling terrible for what she was about to say.

"Riko, I got a job with a defense contractor working as a sales representative," her mother began. "There were a couple of conditions though. The first of which is that I live in the US." Erwin pulled her peak cap off her head and began to fiddle with the brow.

"So mother, you got to live in the US, so what? What does this have to do with me?"

"Well, the defense contractor has a policy where the families of employees must be in the US. So in effect, you to have to come to the US." Erwin felt herself tense up. "I know that you have one year left of high school, and I know you would rather finish it here with your friends, but Riko, I have to get this job, otherwise I couldn't even pay to have you go to school."

Erwin stood up, her face flushing in anger.

"Why did you make this decision without asking me mother?!" Erwin demanded. "You could've gotten any job, so why did you have to accept this one?" Her mother stood up and stared down at Riko.

"Riko Matsumoto, I didn't make this decision lightly, but in all fairness, we need the money. Ever since your father died two years ago due to liver failure and due to his outstanding debts that he left us with to deal with, I have been barely making ends meet. I could barely afford to keep you in school before. However with Oarai being a championship school, they decided to raise their tuition fees, and I can't afford it anymore." Erwin's mother walked over to the door, sighing in frustration at Erwin's behavior.

"Thus, at the end of the week, we will be moving to our new home, and you will get used to it." Erwin's mother then left, leaving Erwin to go to her room and curdle up, weeping quietly.

She _hated_ her mother, she hated how her father's death left the family in debt, and she hated her circumstances. She hated how when she finally made a lot of friends, she was going to leave them behind and start anew. Erwin threw her peak cap at the wall in frustration.

Erwin spent the next couple of hours crying, until the doorbell rang. Wiping her face and collecting her cap, she headed to the door.

"Who is it?" mumbled Erwin. She heard several people shuffling behind the door.

"Um, it's me, Miho, with Hana, Yukari, Saori, and Mako." Erwin sighed. She opened the door.

"You guys make yourself at home," Erwin said, her voice still not at its peak due to her weeping. Miho noticed this.

"Something wrong Erwin?" Miho asked. Erwin nodded.

"Yeah, my mother told me today that by the end of the week I will be in the US, regardless of what I want." She saw the others' faces fell.

"But, what about your classes, your credit, don't you have the option to stay here and continue classes?" Miho asked.

"No, my mother was quite adamant about the fact that she can't afford to keep me here," Erwin said, slumping into a chair. "Thus, I have to go to the US, lest I end up not being able to go to school."

Miho looked at Erwin, who was looking depressed and down on herself. She frowned, feeling helpless in the situation. She looked at the others, and they too were feeling helpless. She sighed.

"Erwin, if there is anything we can do to help out, just…" Erwin stood up, interrupting Miho.

"Thanks Miho, Mako, Hana, Saori, and Yukari, but honestly, the only thing I can do is getting ready for the move." She looked at her things, and realized something that she could have some help with.

"Um, not to be rude, but can you guys help me pack?"

* * *

><p>The week had passed, and Erwin was on the Boeing 767 sitting next to her mother. She was still angry at her mother, for forcing her to move away from her friends, but her friends had made her last week in Oarai the best.<p>

They had a day dedicated to her leaving. In the morning, they held a mock battle between the teams. Erwin was the commander team Bravo while Miho was the captain for team Alpha. The battle was epic, with Erwin having maneuvered her team to flank Miho's from the North and South, creating confusion in Miho's rank and her Stug III knocked out Miho's Panzer IV.

They then went back to the hangar and they had a small party. At the end of the day, everyone gave Erwin a gift. From Miho and her friends, they gave Erwin a model of the Stug III she had commanded. Her close friends from Hippo team gave her several books on German military doctrine. The student council and the others teams pitched in to get Erwin a computer with all the features needed for her to face chat with them.

Erwin was happy that her friends were so kind to her, which made the move all the more painful. She looked at her mother, who was asleep. Erwin sighed, deciding to continue reading 'Vom Kriege', one of the books her friend 'Caeser' gave her. While it was based on tactics for early 1800s military strategy, it was a good read and it did provide some useful bits on commanding forces and how to conduct battle. At that time the pilot spoke on the intercom.

"We are beginning our approach to Dallas International Airport. All passengers, please buckle up." Erwin saw her mother stir awake, and she hastily buckled herself up. Erwin did the same, putting her book away.

After the plane touched down, gotten off of the plane, and grabbed the remainder of their bags, Erwin followed her mother to a cab. She sat in the back, and saw the cab driver was an older man, roughly the same age as her mother.

"Where to ma'am?" the cab driver asked. Her mother smiled.

"Do you know where the corporate building for Moran Tactical Solutions is?" her mother asked. Erwin had learned that this was the defense contractor her mother was working for the day before. The cab driver nodded wearily.

"Yeah, it'll be $12.50 for the two of you; just be glad your fight arrived now instead of rush hour as the AC in my cab is broke." her mother nodded again.

"Alright, and thank you for the heads up." As the cab driver started driving, Erwin's mother turned to her.

"Now Riko, when we meet my friend, you will treat her with respect and not insult her, do you understand?" Erwin nodded, still annoyed at her mother for having to uproot her from her friends. It wasn't that long of a drive to the MTS corporate building, but Riko saw that it was rather imposing. A tall black monolithic building stood tall, and around the base was a thick concrete wall lined with barbed wire and a couple of watch towers with marksman eyeing the perimeter. Riko wondered why her mother decided to work for a defense contractor.

She was about to ask her mother what was special about the job (something she should've done back at her dorm now that she reflected on it) when the cab stopped, just short of the gate. As Erwin and her mother got out and paid the cab driver, a woman around her mother's age with auburn red hair and wearing a light brown business dress drove up behind the cab driver. Her mother nudged Riko, something that irked the blonde girl.

"That would be my friend," Erwin's mother commented. "C'mon, let's go." After loading the car with their bags and getting it, her mother set out to introduce each other.

"Hello Catherine," Erwin's mother said. "How nice to see you. This here is my daughter Riko." Catherine smiled at Erwin.

"Hello Riko, how are you doing?" Erwin faked a smile.

"I am alright, a bit tired from the plane flight." Catherine continued to smile, not noticing Erwin's ersatz smile.

"Well, let's get you and your mother home," Catherine said. "I hope you guys don't mind if I help unpack some things, do you?" Erwin was about to speak up when her mother shook her head.

"No, and thank you. I presume you mainly unpacked the boxes in my room."

"Yes, I left Riko's stuff untouched. I figure I shouldn't go through a young girl's belongings." Erwin silently thanked Catherine; she knew her mother would go through anything, regardless of whose it was.

The drive to their house was uneventful, as could be expected after spending several hours on a plan and just wanting to sleep. As Erwin watched them pass through several small towns, Erwin couldn't help but wonder how Americans were like. Were they are snobbish, ignorant, or as stupid as the stereotypes made them out to be? She didn't pay attention to her mother and friend's conversation, as it was about work.

After nearly an hour, they finally arrived at 'home'. Erwin looked out to see at the end of a short driveway a simple two story house. Getting out of the car, Erwin grabbed her bag, and followed her mother once again into the house with Catherine. She looked inside, and saw that the house was simple. The walls were painted white, there wasn't a lot of furniture, and the layout was simple, with a bathroom, living room, and kitchen on the first floor, and she presumed the bedrooms on the second story. She noted a stairwell into the basement.

"Well Riko, we are home," her mother commented. "What do you think of it?" Erwin sighed.

"It is alright, a bit small for a house, but larger than my dorm room." Her mother nodded.

"Yes, this house was on foreclosure, which allowed me to buy it cheaper than what I normally would be able to. Anyway, while I and Catherine start on dinner, how about you head to your room; it is the first door on the left." Her mother then retreated into the kitchen with Catherine.

Glad to be finally away from her mother, Erwin headed up the stair, and opened her room. Inside was a small desk with a box on top of it (no doubt her computer), a simple bed with green sheets and a black blanket, and a stand for a TV on the wall. Erwin began to unpack her boxes, placing her book onto a shelf above her desk, setting up her computer, and placing the Stug III model at the end of the book shelf.

Erwin was about to start unpacking her various military uniforms when Catherine knocked on the door.

"Riko, dinner is done," Catherine said. She saw Erwin's face, which was torn between anger and sadness. "Everything alright?" Erwin shook her head.

"No, it's just I didn't expect to move away from all my friends, or to end up in the US," Erwin said. "Plus, it doesn't help that my mother can be cold at times." Catherine nodded.

"Well, I can't help about you missing your friends, and to be honest, I wouldn't know how, considering I was an army brat. I tended to move around every four years, thus I never made any long term friendships."

Catherine looked at the books Erwin had, and smiled.

"I suppose you are a big history nut aren't you? And I heard you are into tankery, which is good." Erwin was surprised by Catherine's statement.

"What do you mean?" Erwin asked. "I thought tankery was something that only Japan did." Catherine shook her head.

"Nah, the US Board of Education and the Department of Defense saw the potential in tankery, and thus it is coming to the US. I hear that the school you are going to will be having tankery as an elective."

Erwin smiled at this; at least she will still be able to enjoy tankery while in the states. She then paused, realizing she didn't even know what school she was going to.

"Um, what school am I going to?" Erwin asked. Catherine started to leave, but she stopped at the door.

"It is called Raven's Peak High School, my daughter goes there." With that tidbit of information, Erwin jotted the name of the school down, before heading down stairs to eat dinner with her mother. She was going to see what was up with tankery here in the states, and see how good the school was.

* * *

><p>Erwin was tired, but finally all the boxes were unpacked, and everything was sorted away. She had been unpacking for a solid week, while her mother was away at work. Erwin was annoyed at this bit of information, as she felt her mother was using to do the bulk of the work.<p>

She sighed, seeing how she would start classes soon. Unlike most of the other high schools in the area, Raven's Peak started mid-July, which left Erwin only five days left to enjoy her summer break. She felt like it was cut short, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Getting up, she headed to her room and turned her computer on. She was hoping to face chat with Miho. She had to wait a few minutes, but Miho's face popped up on her screen.

"Hi Erwin," Miho said. "How is the US?" Erwin leaned back in her chair.

"It's not too bad, but you guy aren't here, so I am bored much of the time."

"That sucks. Well, I hope you get some friends soon. Hey, have you heard that they are starting up an international tankery championship?" Erwin's interests piqued at this.

"No, but I learned that the US is starting tankery up, why what have you heard?" Miho smiled.

"Well, I heard that many major nations, like China, Russia, Germany, France, Australia, and a few others are starting up tankery. I am glad that the US is starting up tankery; maybe we will see each other at the championships!" Miho began to laugh, causing Erwin to laugh as well.

"That would be a welcome sight," Erwin admitted. "So what have the others been up to?" Miho took out a PDA.

"Well, we have been training, we already got three new teams formed up to train on the new tanks we have, and Caeser has taken command of Hippo Team. Besides tankery, we have been hanging out on and off again. But school isn't until late August."

"Beats having to go to school in five days," muttered Erwin. Miho gasped.

"What, you only got a month of vacation though!" argued Miho.

"Doesn't matter, I got school in five days, I just hope it isn't a nightmare at school. Hope no one makes fun of my get up." Miho laughed.

"Well, they don't have uniforms at US high schools, so I bet it will be shocking to see what people wear." Miho joked. "But I doubt anyone will mind. Say, how are you and your mother getting on?" Erwin clenched her fist, but she understood that Miho was only curious.

"Not well, I still haven't forgiven her for being an ice queen, and she is so caught up in her work that she doesn't pay any attention to me." Miho frowned at this and was going to speak up when the doorbell rang. Erwin glanced to her door.

"Hey Miho, I will talk to you later, I got to see who this is," Erwin said, and she shut off the program. She headed downstairs and headed to the door.

"Who is it?" Erwin asked.

"It Catherine and my daughter," said the red-headed woman. "Mind if we come in?" Erwin, while shocked at Catherine's arrival, opened the door. She saw Catherine followed by her daughter, who upon entering thrust her hand towards Erwin.

"My name is Katie, nice to meet you Riko." Katie had deep velvet colored hair, was a little taller than Riko, and had blue eyes. She was wearing a woodland patterned camouflage shirt and pants. Erwin shook her hands.

"Nice to meet you to Katie," Erwin turned to face Catherine. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, but what are you two doing here?" Catherine smiled.

"Well, I noticed you don't go out much, being busy with unpacking, and I thought it would be nice for you to meet Katie, so you won't be so shell shocked upon going to the high school." Katie then looked at the stairway.

"Hey, is your room up here?" Katie said, running up the stairs. Erwin, panicking, chased after here.

"Katie, wait, I haven't…" Erwin hadn't been able to finish, as Katie was already in her room, looking around, seeing the mess of boxes filled with her military history books, military memorabilia, and her collection of model tanks and uniforms.

"Why, I didn't have you pegged as a military nut," Katie said, whistling in appreciation at Erwin's collection. Erwin sighed.

"Really, is having a fascination with military history a bad thing?" Erwin asked. Katie chuckled before shaking her head.

"If we were in some liberal state like California or New York, then perhaps, but here in Texas, no one cares if a girl likes big ass tanks, guns, or anything of the like," Katie stated quite confidently. "Then again, that kind of attitude gets us a lot of flak with the more left wing population, but oh well, screw 'em!"

Erwin watched as Katie flopped on her bed, stretching out until she was quite content. Erwin was able to slide into a chair before Katie spoke up again.

"So Erwin, you have other clothes than your uniforms, right?" Erwin nodded.

"Yeah, I have some denim jeans and a fair number of camouflage shirts to wear in lieu of my uniforms," Erwin replied. "Though what can you tell me about Raven's Peak?" Katie paused, putting her finger on her lip in contemplation.

"Well, I figure that first thing you should know is that the queen bitch of the school is Jaqueline Lindsay, though Jackie is what everyone calls her," Katie started. "She isn't a bitch in that she insults or looks down on everyone; it's more like she doesn't understand that the world doesn't revolve around her fat ass. She tries without failure to be the lead in whatever she gets involved in; she was the lead cheerleader, is the student president, and is currently the team leader for the various sports teams that females can play."

"But with tankery coming to Raven's Peak this year, I really, really hope that she can't stand getting dirty as she has a control issue from hell," Katie stated. "If she is team leader, she will hound us something fierce until most of the people who join leave. I remember when she first got onto the school's volleyball team, and within two weeks she drove out half the team due to her constant nagging and insistence to train."

"Wow, she sounds like a number of the perfectionist that was pretty common back in Japan," Erwin commented, quietly playing with a model of a Panzer IV. "So besides Jackie, anyone of note; like teachers?" Katie nodded.

"Well, there is Henrietta Moran," Katie said. "Her father is the CEO of MTS, and due to a number of the school students having members in the armed forces, they tend to look down on her due to her father being, and I quote 'A death dealing scum bag'. However, I know her from the schools JROTC program that she is pretty nice and helpful, if a bit shy at times."

"Why do people pick on Henrietta if their beef is with her father?" Erwin asked. Katie laughed.

"Because people are fucking cowards," Katie stated, her voice giving the impression she had given the subject some thought. "No one would be stupid to piss off Mr. Moran, not when he has a literal army behind him. But from what I gather from Henrietta, her father mostly deals with private security missions, like VIP escort and patrolling of major ports, not like what most people think of in terms of PMCs."

"I see," Erwin said. "So, are you going to be joining Tankery?" Katie nodded.

"Yeah, I mean of all the classes they have that aren't core classes, tankery is the only one I would really care to join," Katie answered. "I can't speak another language; I've tried to learn German and I failed catastrophically. And the rest, I don't know, just don't float my boat, if you know what I mean."

"I get you there," Erwin said. "I remember when it came time to choose electives or clubs at Ooarai and I ended up in the small History club because I can't stand sports and didn't want to choose something 'feminine' like flower arrangement." Katie stared at Erwin as though she grew a second head.

"Seriously, there was an elective to…"

"Train someone how to arrange flowers, yes," Erwin completed. "I don't get it either." Katie shook her head.

"That has got to be the most useless elective I have ever heard of," Katie stated. "Oh well, hey, want to see something awesome?" Erwin shrugged, and Katie quickly opened a web tab on her iPhone. "I heard this a few days ago when I was shopping with my other friends only to bump into Henrietta at the store."

Katie handed Erwin the iPhone, who began reading the web tab. It was an article about a private project that the CEO of MTS, Victor Moran, had decided to reveal to the public. In a move to encourage tankery in the US (as well as broaden the scope of MTS), Victor Moran announced that they were working on a couple of tank chassis that would be given to the semi-finalist teams in the US national tournament. What tanks they were wasn't stated, though Victor Moran stated that 'they would be a decisive vehicle for any team in the tournament, and should make the final round of the competition interesting'.

"Huh, so I guess this is a publicity stunt then?" Erwin replied. Katie nodded.

"Yeah, with the fallout from Blackwater in Iraq and the overwhelming nature of families in the US having military history, I guess MTS is having problems staying popular. I just wonder what tanks they will have; what do you think?"

"Probably some form of heavy tank," Erwin replied. "I know that in the final stages of the Japanese tournament, the teams tended to deploy more and more heavy vehicles to throw around their weight and firepower at the opposition."

The conversation then took a turn about things that Erwin would have to know before entering Raven's Peak. This lasted a few hours before Katie and her mother, after having dinner with Erwin, bid good bye. Erwin spent most of the night before heading to bed thanking Katie's mom for brining Katie over, as entering Raven's Peak wouldn't be so daunting as it was before.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Here we are, again, with the first chapter. You might be wondering what is going on. Well, in case you aren't subscribed to my profile or other stories, on Christmas, I announced I was going to do a major rewrite on this story. Namely to make the characters more alive, do better battles, and in general liven the story up. Thus for this first chapter, I didn't change much at first, mostly grammar, and spelling, but there are a few changes worth mentioning.<strong>

**First, Raven's Peak isn't in Washington but rather Texas. The reason for this change was simple; tanks need a lot of open ground to make useful. Also, since Riko's family is supposed to be dealing with debt issues that were incurred by her father before he passed (medical and being finically irresponsible) living in Washington would be extremely stupid, as the cost of living in the state has skyrocketed since I left. **

**Second, getting this out of the way, Moran Tactical Security will be playing a larger role in this story than before. I gave a sneak peak to it at the end and there will be more later on, so be patient. Also, Raven's Peak's tank selection has changed quite dramatically; you will get to see it when I initially debut the tanks, so please wait, it is incoming.**

**As always folks, please follow, favorite, and review! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: First day of school.

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

Erwin awoke up, rubbing her eyes in disdain. Her alarm was going off, and she hated what time it was. Six in the morning, in her opinion a bit early for a daily occurrence. She was fine if it was once in a while, but having to get up at six for school was going to be annoying.

She sighed, rolling out of bed. She slowly got up and headed to her closest to get some clothes on. She looked at her field marshal uniform, and she sighed. She always wore it at Ooarai, but she didn't want to cause hell at Raven's Peak by standing out. However, she had a backup plan. After putting on a white shirt and kahki cargo pants, she grabbed a Fallschirmjäger jacket, without the medals or insignias.

"Closest thing I can wear to my uniforms without raising too many eyebrows," muttered Erwin to herself. She then strapped on her jack boots and smiled in the mirror. While it wasn't what she would've liked, it was better than wearing the god awful pink shirt Katie had insisted on buying for her.

Erwin shook her head thinking about her day yesterday with Katie, and how school orientation went. She had signed up for JROTC and tankery, but afterwards, Katie insisted that Erwin meet her friends. Erwin didn't enjoy Katie's friends company that much.

Christine, a girl with copper hair and was pencil thin, acted like Erwin imagined what most people thought of typical American girls; air head and vain. She was constantly fixing her hair and commenting on Erwin's choice of clothing. And what made it worse was Christine didn't have a sense of when people were starting to get pissed off, not noticing Erwin restraining from yelling at the girl.

Katie's other friend fell in the other direction, personality wise. Joan had black hair done in curls and she spoke with a French accent. Whereas Christine was vain, Joan was arrogant. She tended to act all high and mighty, making it sound like she was the model for young women, never mind that she was wearing a bunch of fake jewelry and thought it was real.

Erwin sighed, heading downstairs to eat breakfast before heading off to the bustop. She grabbed a bowl of cereal and began to eat when her mother came out. Her hair was a mess and she was wearing a robe and slippers. She walked tiredly to the coffee pot.

"Hi Erwin," she said quietly. "Have a good day at school. By the way, I won't be home tonight; they are having a business party at MTS that I have to attend, so if you want, you can invite your friend over." Erwin nodded, still eating her breakfast. She however watched her mother walk into the living room and sat to drink her coffee.

After finishing breakfast, Erwin quickly cleaned her bowl and grabbed her school bag, which was nothing more than a fancy duffle bag. She headed out the door without saying good-bye to her mother, and walked in the quiet street to the bus stop.

She yawned, and leaned on the telephone pole, waiting for the bus to arrive. She continued to wait as a guy wearing all gray and having white hair came up. He waved at Erwin, and when he got close he extended his hand to Erwin.

"Hi, my name's Erich Schwarz," he said. Erwin shook his hand, and he had a firm grip. "So what's your name, you don't look like a local." Erwin nodded.

"My name is Riko Matsumoto, though my friends usually call me Erwin." Erich shook his head disbelieving.

"I won't know how some names change. Like how does Riko become Erwin, or how Robert becomes Bob." His comment made Erwin chuckled a little bit; he didn't know about her, which made it funny.

"No, it was because I wore a field marshal jacket and peak cap, making me look like Erwin Rommel, you know, the famous panzer commander," Erwin tried to explain, stumbly on her words. Erich however smirked.

"Oh, I get it," he said. "But why did you wear that?" Erwin shrugged.

"Well, it looked good, and when I entered tankery back at my old school, it made it all the more, what's the word, fitting." Erich chuckled.

"So you are going to join the tankery team then?" he asked. "Well, good luck to you. I will be in the automotive maintenance class, and I was told that for the coming nationals, we will be coming along with you guys to maintain you tanks."

Erwin was surprised by this bit of information. She made a mental note to be kind to those in the automotive maintenance class, otherwise she could experience drive issues.

"Good to know," Erwin said. She then pondered his statement. "What do you mean good luck?" Erich frowned at her.

"Oh, you didn't know? Well, apperantly Jackie Lambert will be trying to be made the tankery captain." Erwin mentally groaned; if Jackie was half as bad as she was made out to be by Katie, then they would be losing battle after battle.

"Why did you have to say that?" Erwin asked, as the bus arrived. Erich laughed, and as they were getting on, he looked back at her.

"Well, at least you won't be dealing with Jacob Austin. He is class leader for the automotive class." With that, he took a seat in the front while Erwin headed to the middle. She felt bad for Erich; Jacob sounded much worse than Jackie.

She sat alone, and contemplated her day. She figured it would be a long day that much was certain. Erwin relax, as the bus came to a stop in front of Katie's house. She saw Katie get on and sit next to her.

"Excited for today?" Katie asked. Erwin nodded quietly. "Well, if anything, we have JROTC and tankery to look forward to."

"I heard that Jackie is going to try and become tankery captain," Erwin muttered. Katie whined.

"Not that bitch?" she asked. "Hopefully our instructor won't be a dunce and make her captain." Erwin agreed, and after chatting for a bit, speculating on the possible tanks the school will have (Erwin wished they had a Stug III, like the one back in Oarai), they saw Raven's Peak. Despite having already seen it, Erwin was in awe of Raven's Peak.

Designed like the Pentagon, Raven's peak had three floors, with classes on the first and third, and lockers on the second floor. Each segment of the school held a different school subject, and the schedule for each student was made to optimize travel time around school, requiring the least amount of time as possible between classes, or so Katie explained.

As the bus stopped, Erwin grabbed her bag and followed Katie out of the bus and into the school. Erwin headed straight to her first class, which happened to be calculus. She rushed off to room 202, only stopping off at her locker to drop off her bag. She entered the room, and took a seat in the back. She saw several tables that seated two, and she prayed that she didn't get anyone who would use her like an answer book.

Several students came in, but as the bell rung, the final student, a girl with wavy blonde hair, blue eyes, and a rather impressive bust came in, sitting next to Erwin. She smiled at her.

"My name is Jackie Lambert," said the blonde. "Student President, head of the cheerleaders, and the daughter of Philip Lambert, CEO of Lambert Software Corp. What's your name?" She extended her hand out, but Erwin only took it to be nice. It appeared the Katie's idea of Jackie was a bit correct.

"I am Riko Matsumoto," Erwin said. Jackie nodded, but thankfully before she could speak up again to talk to Erwin, the teacher stood up.

"My name is Mr. Gauss, and I am your teacher for calculus," he said. He was balding with gray hair and he wore glasses and a gray and white shirt. "I expect all of you to turn in your homework on time and do you own work. Any cheating will result in an F, as does participating in cheating." He then went on a rant about class expectations, and it was fairly dull in the classroom.

Erwin leaned on the table, wishing for the last two periods of the day, JROTC and tankery. She wondered what her friends back at Oarai were doing, but at the same time, she was paying a lot of attention to Jackie. Jackie was busy under the desk texting to her friends, gossping about some guys that Erwin could've cared less about.

Erwin was hoping for the class to end when Jackie nudge her.

"Hey Riko, where did you go to school before? I think I heard your name before." Erwin sighed.

"I went to Ooarai High School in Japan," Erwin said. "So I doubt my name is recongizeable." Jackie smiled.

"Oh, I was curious," muttered Jackie back, furiously texting on her phone. Erwin had a sneaking suspicion that Jackie wasn't up to something good. But ten minutes later, the class ended, and Erwin headed off to her next class. She knew that it would be a long day ahead of her.

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

Erwin was wishing she had brought some pills for her blistering headache. She was walking with Katie to room 510 for JROTC, and she was annoyed. Were all Americans talking like they were deaf? Unused to the noise and chaos in Raven's Peak, Erwin wasn't enjoying her first day. After calculus, Erwin had to deal with various guys that were hitting on the 'cute asian'. Erwin was irked to say the least, and was forced to smash a guy's toes with her jack boots when he tried to grope her.

"Are all the guys pigs at this school?" Erwin asked Katie. Katie sighed.

"Not really but the ass hats are the most recognizable, and thus they get all the attention. But there are some who are really nice, cute even, but I shouldn't talk, I usually ended up dating jerks." Katie laughed, but Erwin was confused as to why; what was funny about dating jerks?

But they entered room 510, and they both sat in the back as one of the tables. They both were talking when the bell rung and a man who looked in his thirties walked in. He wore army greens, had a buzz cut, and was very well toned. He walked to the front of the class. He stood at ease in front of the class.

"My name is Captain Proctor, and you will refer to me as such or as 'sir'. Some of you have been in this course the previous years, and some of you are completely fresh, but as a rule, I expect all of you to conduct yourself in a respectable and honorable manner. I hear any of you are causing trouble out of this class, I will make your life hell in this class." His voice was stern and full of authority.

"Some of you may have notice the absence of Sergeant Harper. This is because as of this year, Raven's Peak has started a tankery course, and he has shifted to being the teacher overseeing the class. Now, are there any questions before I begin with the lesson?" No one said anything, so he looked over at a girl in the front row.

"Cadet Corporal Moran, please hand these out to everyone in the class," Cpt. Proctor instructed. A girl with brown hair and eyes wearing a gray skirt and shirt stood up, and taking the papers from him, she began to hand each person a set of papers. She was about to get to Erwin and Katie when some guy stuck his leg out, causing her to trip. Erwin went to help her up with the captain went over to the guy.

"Cadet Private Hicks, explain yourself!" yelled Proctor. Hicks smirked.

"Why should a bitch of war be allowed to join?" Hicks said. Proctor however grabbed the guy by his collar and dragged him out of the class, and began to bellow at him in the hallway. Erwin looked at the girl.

"You alright Moran?" Erwin asked, feeling bad that she didn't know the girl. The girl smiled, and began to restack the papers.

"I am fine," she said in a low voice. "That was mild in comparison to earlier. I had been locked in a janitor's office earlier." Erwin felt herself tense up; why was this girl being treated like crap?

"Why are you being treated like crap?" Erwin asked. Katie however answered.

"Because Cpl. Moran is really Henrietta Moran, daughter of Victor Moran, CEO of MTS. And because many of the kids in this school have family in the army, they tend to look down on private contractors. And Henrietta here gets the back lash."

Erwin felt bad, having to deal with ridicule due to your father must've been bad. She then wondered if she would get any backlash, as she knew her mother worked at MTS. But she helped Henrietta out, and they got the rest of the papers distributed. By this time, Proctor was back in with Hicks looking a bit white, which Erwin was thankful for.

"Now then, after the disturbance caused by Pvt. Hicks, let's return to the task at hand," He said. He turned on a projector, and it displayed basic rank structure of the JROTC.

"For the new people here, this is the structure of the JROTC. The lowest rank is private, and the highest is colonel. With each rank, your responsibility increases, and thus you are to be shown competent in your job and be of integrity." He then went on in a lecture until half-way through the class. He then told everyone to get to the track, which was thankfully just outside the five hundred hall.

Erwin and Katie went off in a steady pace to the track, leading the others as they were the ones closest to the door. Erwin noticed Katie's huffing as they got to the track, but not having time to think about, Erwin and the others were forced through a rigorous workout of push-ups, sit-ups, flutter-kicks, and plenty of sprinting.

By the end of the class, everyone was sweating, never mind they only worked out for half an hour. Erwin looked at Katie, who was sweating profusely and gave her thumbs up. Katie smiled and returned the gesture. They began to head to their tankery class, which was being held in the newly made tank halls, but thankfully they were just on the other side of the tracks.

Erwin and Katie began talking about what tanks they expected to see, when Erwin noticed Henrietta hanging behind them.

"Hey, Henrietta, want to talk with us?" Erwin asked. Henrietta smiled, and jogged to catch up. Katie looked annoyed, but Erwin didn't care; Henrietta probably could use a pick me up after the stunt in JROTC.

"So you look forward to tankery?" Erwin asked. Henrietta nodded.

"Yeah, I had practice driving tanks, my father is an avid tank collector, and on the weekends he lets me drive them, of course only when he is around," Henrietta stated.

"What tanks does your father have?" Katie asked. Henrietta shrugged.

"Well, most of them are WW2 era tanks, but he has a couple of Cold-War tanks. His favorite though is the one he is reconstructing based on its blue-prints, the E-100 super heavy tank." Erwin smiled; while the E-100 was never completed, it was designed and the hull and chassis were completed. It was designed to replace the heavy tanks like the King Tiger and Jagdtiger.

"Ah, that must be expensive," Erwin remarked. "What gun is it going to have?" Henrietta again shrugged.

"I don't know, all I know is that father is annoyed with the progress of his work, apparently getting the parts fashioned out is taking longer than he expected."

They arrived at the tank hangar, and saw a lot of people, each in their own groups. Erwin saw Jackie and her friends in one group, causing the three of them to sigh. However, Erwin saw Katie waving over her friends Joan and Christine over. She wondered what they thought they were doing, but she shrugged. Most likely Katie convinced them to join tankery.

After a minute of talking, Erwin noticed a man walking in front of the tank hangar. He was stout, very muscular, and had dark brown hair. He whistled loudly to get everyone attention.

"Alright everyone, settle down!" he yelled, and soon everyone turned to face him. "My name is Sergeant Harper, and I am your teach slash instructor for tankery. Now, your primary instructor will be here on Monday, so you will have time to get to know your tanks before she gets here from Japan."

He turned to look at the blob of people and sighed.

"Now, all of you, gather in groups of no less than three and no more than five!" Erwin saw a flurry of people trying to get into Jackie's group, but it appeared she had her group already selected. Erwin and the others watched at those rejected returned to their own group.

After a moment, Sgt. Harper then ordered each group to line up, with their intended commander in front. Unanimously, and due to her experience in tankery, Erwin was selected to lead their group, and Jackie was selected to be the leader of her group. The others took a while to organize, but it was done in a minute. Sgt. Harper then began left to right, and began to make adjustments as needed. After making the adjustments, he then spoke.

"Alright, now everyone, look in front and behind you, these are your tank mates. They will back you up and you will back them up. You all will be given a specific goal, and you will learn how best to follow your task." He paused, taking a breath. Erwin hope they would see the tanks they will be operating. But her hopes were dashed when he spoke.

"For today, we will study basic crew positions and their tasks, and you will learn basic tank maintenance as well." He led the entire group to a mock model of a Panzer III. He then began to instruct the class of the various roles and positions of the tank, with only Erwin and Henrietta rolling their eyes.

After half an hour of lecturing about positions and maintenance, Sgt. Harper then instructed the class to work on communication skills, using radio and intercom communication. Erwin was quick to help the others in her crew, but the other groups struggled with the older radios. Some tried to cheat using cell phones, but Sgt. Harper quickly confiscated them, usually with a good hashing at those.

By the end of the class, Erwin was longing to get home, her first day being boring and dull. However, before dismissing the class, Sgt. Harper brought some annoying news to front.

"After the arrival of the instructor, you will have one week to choose a team captain. This person must have good tactical experience, work well with others, and has extensive knowledge regarding the tanks that are in use."

Erwin groaned; while she had good tactical experience, and knew most of the tanks of the era, she had problems with others. Worse still, she expected Jackie to rear her face into the issue and force her way into being the captain.

As she left to head for the buses, she walked with the others in her crew. Joan and Christine were talking fashion with Katie, leaving Henrietta to talk to Erwin.

"So Riko, I saw the match between Ooarai and Kuromorimine," Henrietta said. "I have to ask, why did you stand your ground against the Maus in your Stug III?" Erwin chuckled. It was admittedly stupid to have done; even on the best of days, the Stug III stood no chance against a Maus.

"Well, I wanted to avenge Duck team after their Char B1 was knocked out," Erwin said. Henrietta nodded.

"I guess that makes sense. But it makes me wonder, what are we going to do if a team brings in a Maus?" Erwin shrugged.

"Well, only one was ever made, and that is owned my Kuromorimine, so the odds of us facing it in the nationals are next to none," reasoned Erwin. "But still, unless we have a tank with either a massive cannon or as much armor, we can't expect to do much against it. The plan Miho pulled off was reckless, but it worked none the less."

Erwin then saw the busses and waved good bye to Henrietta, Joan, and Christine. She got on the bus with Katie, sighing in contemplation. Her first day was by no mean terrible, but it was fairly dull. Though on the plus side she didn't have to meet Jacob Austin.

Erwin looked over at Katie once they were seated.

"Hey Katie, want to hang out at my place?" Erwin asked. Katie sighed.

"I can't, my grandparents are coming up to the house for the weekend, and I have to hang out with them," Katie said. "I love them, but it can be boring if you know what I mean." Erwin shook her head; both of her parents' parents were dead long before Erwin was born.

Katie saw this and looked embarrassed.

"Sorry, I didn't know," Katie apologized. "Er, if you don't mind me asking, how did your father die? I heard it from my mother…"

"My father died of liver failure. My family poured money into his treatment, but with terrible insurance, we couldn't afford to keep up the treatments. It is why I am here, my mother got a job at MTS and we are pretty poor overall."

Katie looked down, feeling bad for bringing it up. She hugged Erwin, saying sorry softly into her ear. Erwin meanwhile blushed, unused to being hugged.

"It's alright, it happened two years ago, so the pain is largely gone," Erwin said. "Anyway, I have a question, what tanks do you think we are going to get?" Katie shrugged, and they spent the bus ride thinking of possible tanks. Erwin enjoyed the conversation, especially when it came to which heavy tank was better; the King Tiger or the IS-2. Erwin insisted that the King Tiger was the best with its long range performance and armor, but Katie argued that the gun of the IS-2 compensated for its thinner armor and the need to lower the gun to reload.

All in all Erwin enjoyed the bus ride home, looking forward to Monday where she would meet the instructor, wear her JROTC uniform, and see what tanks they would have. Erwin continued to ponder on what tanks they would have as Katie got off the bus, and as the sky began to darken as it began to rain.

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

**Author's Notes: The end of a chapter, and this was to set several things up. I know, no Panzers, but next chapter, there will be tanks! But to get to the reviews;**

**-Joannes808: Trust me, Erwin won't be converted into the 'typical American Bimbo', and she will deal with Jackie and Jacob in due time. She won't tolerate their bullshit for long, but that is for later chapters, I am still setting the story up, getting the characters in line and I am still planning the nationals.**

**-Theralion: I took your suggestion to remove the 'I suck at summaries', thanks for that. Also, to clarify some points you've brought up.**

**The reason Erwin's father drained the family due to liver failure is that medical bills with crappy insurance are quite daunting. I know from my own family that if it weren't for insurance, my family couldn't afford most of the medications we need. As about Miho and her mother, I always saw them as cold to one another, but I suppose you are right.**

**Erwin's mother will be getting some attention in the later chapters, especially once the nationals start up. Right now, Erwin is ticked at her mother for forcing her to move away from her friends, so of course it is going to be skewed at the moment.**

**The other schools in the US will not be as ingrained as those in Japan, so for now, it is on even footing. However, several schools in well off states will have a immense advantage, just due to being able to afford better tanks. But just wait until you see what Raven's peak currently has, and what they will have.**

**As for grammar, I know, Microsoft Word tends to be grammar happy, and sometimes I take its advice a bit too often. That said, the points you brought up are generally things I tend to gloss over when I am in the midst of typing. I generally only go back to correct spelling mistakes and major grammar flops, not small mistakes that go below the radar.**

**-Severstal: I don't intend to include boys into the tank crews, but as you can see, they will be involved in the championship by maintaining and repairing the tanks. I think that is fair, afterall most people in the automotive repair business are men.**

**Also, compared to Ooarai, Raven's Peak is virtually the opposite. Chaotic, splintered, and no true sense of order, Raven's Peak and the people in it will give Erwin one hell of a time. But thankfully, she is already making friends to help her along, and Erwin will come to her own in Raven's Peak.**

**Now a special thanks to those that favorite and are following this story;**

**Theralion**

**Severstal**

**Joannes808**

**Gm2129**

**And now to ask you guys, what tanks do you want to see Raven's Peak to have? I have a few ideas but I don't know about the entire roster. Here is the deal regarding the tanks at the moment;**

**1: Must have been either designed or built before the end of 1945.**

**2: It can't be any super-heavy monsters like the Maus or T-95.**

**3: It must be verifiable and not an obscure or possibly fake tank.**

**Please leave your suggestions in either a review or in a PM to me, I will look it over, no matter how little information you give me.**

**As always folks, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Forms, Instructor, and Panzers!

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

Erwin was in her room, watching a documentary on the Battle of Kursk. She was engrossed in the tactics and strategies used in the battle, and by how staggering large the battle was. With around three million men, eight thousand tanks, and five thousand aircraft involved, Kursk was one of the largest battles ever seen. It ended in a catastrophic German defeat, but at a considerable toll on the Soviet army.

Erwin debated if there was anything the German army could've done to have won the battle. She thought that maybe if the Germans on the northern push had consolidate their tanks and supported them with infantry as the Southern forces had done, then maybe Germany could've prevented the Russian counter offensive the pushed back the Southern push.

Or maybe if Germany had developed more Panzer IVs and Stug IIIs instead of building the more complex Panthers, Tigers, and Elephants, then the Germans could've competed with the Soviet tank numbers advantage. Or maybe if the Luftwaffe was able to better support the German advance instead of getting harassed by Soviet AA and fighter interceptors.

Erwin then shook her head, knowing that the battle was a losing affair; it might've prolonged the German defeat, but still, the resources that German would've consumed in winning the battle would mean that Germany could never recover enough to take Moscow, and in a year's time, the Western Allies would've invaded France, thus forcing Germany to split its attention even further.

Sighing after the credits began to roll, Erwin headed downstairs. It was Sunday, but again, her mother was out at work, leaving Erwin in the empty house. She strolled to the kitchen to get something to drink, cursing her boredom. It wouldn't be so bad if she had something to take her mind off of the unveiling of the tanks and meeting the instructor tomorrow. But alas, she had nothing to do.

She opened the fridge up and took out a frozen tea. She sighed; frozen tea was pretty bad, as either it was too sweat to be called tea or so bitter that you couldn't keep it down. But it had caffeine and she was craving something other than water, and the only thing was the frozen tea, so that's what she had.

She headed into the living room, to lie out on the couch and maybe read a bit out of 'Vom Kriege', but as she was lying down, the doorbell rang. She got up from the couch, threw the book on the couch, and headed to the door.

"Hello, who is it?" Erwin asked. She knew it was early evening, about five, so it wasn't her mother.

"It's me Henrietta," announced the young girl. "Katie said that this was your house Riko?" Erwin smiled; it was one of her new friends. She opened the door.

"Come in," Erwin said, and Henrietta walked in. "So why are you here?"

Erwin saw Henrietta walk to the kitchen, shrugging at her question.

"My father is at work, and I don't live that far from here, so I walked, thought I would hang out with you for the day," Henrietta opened the fridge, frowning at its content. "You don't have anything other than milk, water, or frozen tea?"

"Sorry, but my mother is penny pinching pretty badly. So what do you want to do?" Erwin asked. Henrietta shrugged.

"What do you have to do?" Henrietta asked. Erwin rubbed the back of her neck; in all honesty, Erwin did very little with others. Even with her friends at Ooarai, Erwin didn't do much other than hang out with and talked history with them.

"Well, I guess we can hang out in my room," Erwin said. As they began heading upstairs, Erwin pondered on some things. "Henrietta, when do you have to be home?"

"I can stay until about seven, and that is because I rather not walk out too late," she replied. They came into Erwin's room, and Henrietta sat on Erwin's bed. "But never mind that, what do you think we will get for tanks?"

Erwin had been pondering this. Back at Ooarai, the tanks had been a collection of various out of date vehicles, with the only true exceptions being the Panzer IV, the Stug III, and the Tiger P. But Raven's Peak wasn't Ooarai, and she learned that Raven's Peak had a moderate budget for tankery.

"I don't expect anything like Tigers or Panthers, but I hope we aren't going to be stuck with tanks like the Italian or French light tanks, they were bolted together and had serious problems with spalling and they mounted ineffective cannons." Henrietta nodded.

"I agree, I hope we get some decent medium tanks, like the Cromwell or maybe even some T-34 tanks," Henrietta added. "I driven in the T-34/85s, and while they are cramp, they are pretty easy to drive."

Erwin remembered that Henrietta's father was a tank collector, and wondered if any of the tanks he had could be used in their tankery.

"Henrietta, could we use you father's tanks for the championships?" Erwin asked. Henrietta shook her head.

"Sorry Riko, while my father may have tanks like the Ferdinand, the Semovente 105/25, and even a T29 heavy tank, US Federal laws insist that all of these tanks have their barrels plugged to prevent incidents." Erwin sighed, if they had even one of those tanks, then the issue of heavy tanks would easily be solved.

"Well, thanks for that information," Erwin said. She grabbed her peak cap off her desk and put it on her head. "I wonder, did you always receive crap for being the daughter of a CEO for a private military contractor?"

Henrietta's face fell, and she looked at the floor.

"Sadly, everyone at Raven's Peak until you and Katie hated me, and that is because most of the student body has family in the national service." Erwin frowned.

"But that can't be all there is to it, can it?" Erwin asked. She doubted that Henrietta would be hated to have pranks pulled out on her and to be insulted in front of teachers if it was just her relations to her father.

"Well, they tend to think that I am a greedy person that would sell them out for money, or they think I am not trustworthy, or some people see my involvement in the JROTC as an insult. But it doesn't bother me too much anymore; I have been dealing with it for so long."

"But you shouldn't have to," argued Erwin. She hated people to be treated like crap for their association with others. "Just because your father is CEO of MTS doesn't make you a bad person. You are you, not your father, not anyone other than yourself. So don't take it lying down."

Henrietta smiled at Erwin. She felt a bit better, having no one before, other than her father, stand up for her.

"Thanks Riko," Henrietta said. Erwin face palmed, annoyed with being called Riko.

"Can you call me Erwin; all my friends back at Ooarai did, and I prefer that. But Katie won't in public, and my mother will only call me Riko." Henrietta nodded. While Erwin began to lean in her chair, Henrietta scanned Erwin's bookshelf.

"You have a lot of strategy books," Henrietta noted. "You think they will help with tankery, possibly making you the team captain?" Erwin blushed at the notion of her leading Raven's Peak, much like Rommel leading the Afrika Korp through the deserts of North Africa.

"Possibly," Erwin said. "However, I don't know who else will be likely to vie for the position, other than Jackie Lambert." Henrietta paused, thinking of those she saw in the class.

"There wouldn't be anyone else really, most however would chose Jackie as she is the most noticeable person there." Erwin breathed a bit easier; if it came down to skill, than Jackie would go down. But if the captain was elected and not chosen, then she would be in trouble.

"That's somewhat relieving then," Erwin said. She looked at the clock and saw that it was about five thirty. "Hey Henrietta, want to watch a movie?"

"Which one?" Henrietta asked. Erwin went through her collection and found a suitable movie.

"How about 'Battle of the Bulge'? It has a bit of tank action to get in the mood for tomorrow?" Erwin suggested. Henrietta nodded, and they watched the rather long movie, enjoying the action but criticizing the director's choice in vehicles. Who would dare represent a King Tiger with a M47 Patton, or worse, a M24 Chaffe for a M4 Sherman?

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

It was now Monday, and Erwin was in her JROTC uniform, starching at the cuffs. The uniform was a good substitute for her Field Marshal uniform, but it was rather itchy at the cuffs and collar. Also, the boots she was forced to wear were tighter than she liked.

She was sitting next to Henrietta and Katie in JROTC, the last class before tankery. They were busy reading about methods of motivating people, as Cpt. Proctor wanted them to get some insight on learning real leadership skills. They had a few minutes before the class ended, but the three of them were at odds with the material given to them.

"Why give a person positive feedback if they are struggling?" muttered Katie. "Shouldn't you tell them what they are doing wrong and tell them how to fix it?" Erwin shrugged, reading a section that explained the faults with being aggressive in your motivation.

"I guess the idea is that by complimenting them, they don't get nervous and keep making mistakes," Erwin suggested. "But I think that it would be better to make it clear they are making a mistake. Isn't that what drill instructors do; break the barriers and remold the person?" Katie rolled her eyes at Erwin's response.

"You can't do that to civilians, _Private_ Matsumoto," Katie said, much to the annoyance of Erwin. While it was fair that she was on the bottom due to her being new, Erwin still didn't like that she was just a private. It felt so belittling to her.

"But still, why give them a tank you when really they deserve a smack into reality?" Erwin countered. "You don't give a person a medal for failing, you give them a demeaning task to make them mull over their failure."

"Sometimes though failure isn't the person's fault," Henrietta piped in. "Sometimes it's just nerves that fails a person. If a soldier breaks down, you can't use force to motivate them to continue onwards."

Erwin was about to counter, saying that is what the Russians did with order 227; the infamous 'not one step back' order, which gave commanding officers the ability to shoot those who retreat or deserted to enforce discipline, when Cpt. Proctor spoke up.

"Everyone listen up," he said. "Due to the tankery championships starting in December, those interested in joining the Drill team for this year will have to have a signed consent form saying they are willingly to travel Washington D.C. for the start of the tankery championship, as they will be a part of the opening ceremony. " He paused, grabbing a pile of papers.

"Also, on another note, the JROTC trip to Joint-Base Lewis McChord during Spring Break will be held with those from the tankery class." Erwin glanced over to Katie, who shrugged. Cpt. Proctor then handed out a set of papers, which Erwin looked at. They were consent forms, and they covered a wide range of things that would be occurring.

"All of you must return these forms to go on the various trips and partake in various activities within the JROTC," Cpt. Proctor noted. "If these forms aren't returned by Friday, then you may as well consider yourself SOL. So please return with these form signed by your parents or guardian."

Erwin looked up the various forms, and sighed. She knew that her mother was concerned about money, so how many of these things could she realistically go to? She groaned internally; how much pleading would she have to do?

Katie saw Erwin's expression and nudged her.

"Don't worry about the costs," Katie said. "Most of these are already dealt with. The only one that will burn a hole in your pocket is the JROTC Ball in March, but you have time to gather money for that." Erwin nodded wearily, and with that the class ended.

Grabbing her bag, Erwin walked with Katie and Henrietta to tankery, discussing what tanks Raven's Peaks will have and who the instructor was. Katie was indifferent about the tanks, but she hoped the instructor wasn't very stern or strict. Henrietta and Katie were arguing whether tanks or tactics won battles when Erwin froze in her place.

She was looking at a woman with a clipboard, who was about her height, with light blue eyes and grey hair. She was wearing a red skirt with a black panzer jacket. She was wearing a black beret with a silver iron cross on the front. Erwin recognized her at Erika Itsumi, the XO to Miho's sister.

Erika looked over at Erwin, who was in shock, and glared at her.

"What are you doing here Ms. Matsumoto?" muttered Erika. Erwin shook herself from her shock and glared right back at Erika.

"I go to school here, and I am taking tankery," explained Erwin. "What are you doing here?" Erika lowered her clipboard, looking at Erwin and her friends.

"I am here to instruct the tankery class here," Erika said coolly, while pointing at Henrietta and Katie. "And who might they be?" Erwin tightened her fist in her pocket.

"They are Katie Belfort and Henrietta Moran, my friends and tank mates," Erwin said. "There is also Joan Renault and Christine Baker, but they aren't here yet." Erika nodded, walking off to talk with Sgt. Harper.

"You two know each other?" Katie asked. Erwin nodded.

"Sadly; we went up against each other in Japan's national's last year, and thus she probably hates me for being a part of the team that made her school look like fools." Katie then simply said 'oh' before walking to where they needed to be.

Erwin debated if Erika would try and screw her and her friends over to get back for defeating her school in the nationals. If it wasn't for Erika's demand for success and victory, she wouldn't have hesitated in thinking so, but Erika's pride would probably dampen her demands for revenge.

Erwin looked at the other groups and saw Jackie talking to her group. Jackie was talking rather loudly, so Erwin was able to overhear her hoping that Raven's Peak had some exceptionally heavy tanks. Erwin snickered; heavy tanks were fine, but they tended to break down due to their weight. But then Jackie turned the subject onto who should be leading the team.

The reactions of several groups seemed to indicate that Jackie was the popular choice, which made Erwin feeling anxious about the prospects of Jackie leading the tankery team into battle. Erwin doubted she had any understanding of military tactics, and so the only thing that Jackie could do so far was motivate the team into action.

Erwin was about to speak her mind to Henrietta when Sgt. Harper walked in the front of the hangar.

"Everyone," he began. "This is Erika Itsumi, your instructor for tankery. She will be teaching you tank tactics and how to drive you tanks." Erika waved as several students applauded her. Erwin remained silent, having very little patience for Erika.

"Thank you everyone," Erika said. "As your instructor, I expect you to follow my instructions and to heed my advice. Now then, who here has any experience with tanks in the field?" Erwin and Henrietta raised their hands, while everyone else kept theirs down. Erika paled a bit at this information, which made Erwin grin.

"Very well," Erika said. "I guess the best thing would be to get them acquainted with their tanks. Mr. Harper, do you have any objections to this?" Sgt. Harper shook his head.

"No, but I rather wait for driving lessons for tomorrow. Today, let's keep it to getting used to their tanks and understanding the strategy we will be using in combat," Sgt. Harper said. Erika nodded.

"Very well. Everyone, follow me." The class followed Erika and Sgt. Harper into the hangar. Erwin saw that unlike Ooarai's hangar, this one was well lit, meticulously cleaned, and quite spacious, despite having fifteen tanks in it. Erika led the class to the front of the hangar, where everyone got a clear look at the tanks they would be using. However, before Erwin could identify all the tanks, Sgt. Harper spoke up.

"Alright everyone, let's begin with the formation of Raven's Peak doctrine," he said. He rolled out a whiteboard with a wealth of information. Erwin saw three groups, each with different colors in the white board.

"The doctrine you will be using is based around three elements; scouting, assault, and ambush elements. These elements have their own tasks, and as such, you will have to coordinate your efforts to make the most of them." Erika then stepped forward.

"The scouting element is vital for finding the enemy, setting up possible areas of ambush, and giving the team the information it needs," Erika said.

"The assault element is used for frontal attacks and taking the brunt of the damage. They act as hard target for the enemy to take out, giving the other elements some breathing room. Finally, we have the ambush element, whose task it is to knock out heavily armored tanks from concealed positions." She stopped, letting Sgt. Harper to speak up.

"Alright, now to assign the tanks. When you or your commander is called out, you will take the first available tank. Wait until everyone is assigned before exploring the tank and figuring out crew positions."

Erwin watched as various groups were called out, but she was wondering what tank she was going to be given, as her group was last. She watched as the scouts and assault elements were filled up, leaving Erwin's group to be put into the ambush unit, and Erwin waited anxiously, having not paid attention to the tanks in the hangar.

"Riko Matsumoto's unit, take the last tank," called out Sgt. Harper. Erwin, Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine walked won the tanks, and as Erwin walked past them, she internally groaned, due to the tanks she saw.

First were the scout element's tanks. There were two Tetrarch light tanks with the Little-John adaptor equipped, followed by two Bt-7 fast tanks and a single M24 Chaffee. All these tanks were highly mobile and had incredibly thin armor, and Erwin wasn't sad enough to miss these tanks.

But the assault group was the one area Erwin felt ripped off about. There were two rare T14 heavy tanks that mounted 75mm cannons and were very well armored. Then there were the two Matilda infantry tanks with 2 pounder cannons. But the tank Erwin was most envious about was the one Jackie's group received, the Churchill Mk VII, with its thick armor and impressive high velocity 75mm cannon. Jackie was talking to her group, enjoying the fact she got the heaviest tank in the assault element.

Erwin walked past the ambush element's Su-76s and Marder III Ausf M tank destroyers. Both were equipped with powerful anti-tank cannons, but the Su-76 could perform indirect fire support while the Marder III had a better anti-tank cannon. Both were open top vehicles with thin armor, meaning they couldn't be seen if they wanted to perform their mission.

Erwin was about to feel sad when she saw the tank Erika Itsumi was standing next to, directing her group to their tank. She looked at the sheer size of its cannon, its open top, and unusual suspension. Henrietta beat Erwin in identifying the tank destroyer.

"It's a Semovente 90/53, the second largest Italian tank destroyer," breathe Henrietta. Erwin smiled, as the Semovente 90/53 was a monster.

Armed with 90mm anti-aircraft cannon, much in the same way the Tiger I adapted the Flak 36 for its main cannon, this tank destroyer had better anti-tank capability than the Tiger I, due to a heavier shell and higher muzzle velocity. But unlike the Tiger I, the Semovente was limited in armor, and to make matters worse it lacked a turret and its mobility prevented it from being useful in certain environments.

Erwin noted that in the North African campaign, the tank destroyer performed admirably, doing better than many of the German tanks in the theatre due to the flat terrain and the range of its 90mm cannon. But once the fighting was moved to the Italian mountains, it lost its prestige as a tank destroyer and began to serve as indirect fire support.

"Sorry, but I am not a tank nut like you two, so you mind explaining what's so great about this tank?" Joan asked a bit rudely. Erwin sighed, forgetting how not everyone is so in tune with tanks as she was.

"This is an Italian tank destroyer that performed as well as several German TDs in North Africa, due to its massive 90mm cannon. This will help when we are fighting heavy tanks like KVs, Churchills, and maybe even against IS tanks."

Erwin and Henrietta were excited to see the tank more in depth, but Erika had other plans.

"Everyone assemble back so we may discuss strategies," Erika yelled over the shatter of the groups discussing amongst themselves. Erwin sighed; she wanted to see where she would be commanding the tank from. But grudgingly she followed Erika and the others to the front of the hangar. Once everyone was in their group, Erika began the strategy session.

"Alright, due to our formation set-up, each element will have its element leader, of which they have already been chosen. Sarah Goldman will lead the scouting element, Jackie Lambert will lead the assault element, and Riko Matsumoto will lead the ambush element. However, the team captain will be chosen this Friday. Until then, the focus will be on running the vehicles and learning how to operate all the features of the tanks. The first mock battle so to speak will be held on the second Friday in August, as you should be by then well verse in operating your tank."

Erika stepped back, allowing Sgt. Harper to hand each person a form, speaking on the subject of training.

"All of you should know that on the weekends, you will be expected to come in and to train in the operation of your vehicles. The only excuses for being unable to attend a weekend's training session will be medical, transportation, or other school related activities. Failure to show up to too many training sessions will see you expulsed from tankery. These forms are consent forms for your parents to sign, please have them signed and turned in by Friday."

After receiving the forms, they were allowed back to their tanks for the last ten minutes before class let out. Erwin and Henrietta climbed onto the tank and began to find the positions for everyone. However, Erwin noted one major flaw with their vehicle. She waved Erika over after discussing the issue with the others.

"What is it?" Erika muttered. Erwin pointed to their tank.

"Erika, how many people are in my group?" Erwin asked, her voice a bit annoyed.

"Five, what's the problem?" Erika asked, her eyes squinting at Erwin, wondering what the blonde was getting at.

"And how many does it take to man this tank?" Erwin asked, setting up the realization. Erika however didn't notice immediately the problem.

"Four, so what is the issue…" Erika paused after realizing the folly. "Shit, Mr. Harper! Get over here, we have a problem."

Sgt. Harper ran across the hangar, his face concerned.

"What's the matter?" Harper asked. Erika explained the issue, only to have harper shake his head.

"Ah, sorry for the confusion, but there will be a fifth person operating the tank," Harper began to explain. "Due to the very limited amount of shells this tank could carry, we added a trailer hook that will allow this tank destroyer to lug around an ammunition trailer behind it, so we can expand the amount of shells the tanks can use. The fifth person will assist with getting the shells from the trailer to the tank."

Both Erika and Erwin sighed; it made sense, without an ammo carrier, the Semovente was limited to 6 shells, too few for combat operations. However, Erwin wondered if the Italians actually put a trailer hook to allow the tank to carry more shells into combat. But deciding not to argue, Erwin and the others began to discuss the positions.

"Well, I guess Henrietta should be the driver, as she knows how to drive tanks," Erwin began. The others nodded in agreement, as neither Christine nor Joan knew how to drive, and Katie was a bit too tall to fit in the driver's seat.

"I will be the commander, and that leaves the gunner, loader, and 'trailer loader'. Um, which one of you knows how to aim through a periscope?" Erwin asked. Katie shook her head, as did Christine. However Joan raised her hand.

"I don't know how similar a scope is to a periscope, but I am able to hit targets at five hundred yards with a hunting rifle with a four times scope," Joan stated. Erwin nodded.

"Alright then Joan, you will be the gunner. Then Katie, Christine, do whatever it takes to determine which person gets with loader position." Katie and Christine cursed their luck, playing five rounds of rock, paper, scissor, and Katie won, so she was the proper loader while Christine got the unfortunate task of hauling shells from the trailer to the tank.

"Alright then, we figure out the crew positions, so let's continue this tomorrow and learn how to operate our tank more in depth," Erwin said. The others nodded, as not even a minute later class ended. As they left the hangar to get onto the buses, Erwin saw Jackie running to catch up to her.

"Riko, wait up!" Jackie said, bounding to catch up with Erwin. The group stopped and turned to face Jackie. "Hey, I was thinking, due to the need for a captain, how about you, Sarah, and me hang out on Wednesday after school at the mall so we can get the whole leadership thing out of the way?"

Erwin wondered if she should blow Jackie off. It would make her friend Katie happy, who clearly didn't like Jackie, but deciding that she really didn't know Jackie that well, agreed to Jackie's proposition.

"Fine, but if you don't mind, I am going to invite my friends here to come along," Erwin isnsited. Jackie nodded.

"Fair enough. Sarah has already agreed to similar terms. Anyway, see you in class and see you on Wednesday." With that, Jackie walked off, going back to her clique. Katie looked at Erwin cautiously.

"Why did you agree?" Katie asked. "Jackie has the school in her pocket, so why are you accepting her proposal?" Erwin shrugged.

"Listen, Ooarai didn't have people like Jackie, it didn't have as wide of diversity of people like this school does, so sorry if I am not paranoid at the moment. But I rather not make enemies based on next to no personal experience with her."

That shut Katie up, letting the girls discuss their plans and discuss on how they can hope to make a difference in the nationals. This topic brought up the issue with the finals, where the teams could expand their tank fleet from fifteen to thirty.

"Where exactly are we going to get new tanks?" asked Katie. Erwin paused, wondering the same thing. However, Henrietta smiled.

"Well, I know my father is a tank collector, so maybe I could convince him to convert a few of his tanks so they can be used for the championship," Henrietta offered. "But I think we will have to be a favorite to win the nationals."

Erwin nodded. But still, an additional fifteen tanks would be hard to fill, plus she wondered if they could upgrade their existing tanks. But Joan brought up a more interesting problem.

"Even if we get more tanks, where are we going to find the crews for them?" Joan argued. "The class is already quite large, and if the finals are as big as I think they will be, then we will need to start getting feelers for new crews."

Christine then interjected with her own concerns.

"Also, we have to make peace with the asshole Jacob Austin," she said. "He will use the fact that the tankery class relies on the automotive maintenance class for repairs and maintenance." Erwin groaned; she never met the guy, but everyone seemed to hate him. She then remembered Erich Schwarz, who also was in that class. Maybe she could convince him to take over somehow.

But as it was, the buses had arrived, and the group split off to get on their buses. Erwin was left wondering what other obstacles would come up. She drifted into uneasy state of being awake and on the edge of sleep all the way to her house. She sighed, left to ponder what Jackie intended to do on Wednesday.

\/\/\/

\/\/\/

**Author's Notes: The end of another chapter, and we get to see the team's tank roster! For a more clear view, here we go;**

**Scout Element's tanks;**

•** 2x Tetrarch Light tank**

•** 2x Bt-7**

•** 1x M24 Chaffee (Sarah's)**

**Assault Element's tanks;**

•** 2x T14 tank**

•** 2x Matilda tank**

•** 1x Churchill Mark VII (Jackie's)**

**Ambush Element's tanks;**

•** 2x Su-76**

•** 2x Marder III Ausf M**

•** 1x Semovente 90/53 (Erwin's)**

**Now onto the reviews;**

**-Gman2129: An M26 is a bit too advance for Raven's Peak, but maybe when they prepare for the finals (I am not going to hide it, they will go to the finals, but the course of the battles will be left a surprise.)**

**-Theralion: Thanks for pointing my flaws and giving suggestions. I didn't even realize I had Erwin's mother call her 'Erwin' instead of Riko until after you pointed it out. That was a rubbish mistake I made. But to answer your questions, I uses the triple V for scene transitions as they are easy to make in Word, and I hate experimenting with my documents, because if I get something written out the way I like it, but I insert a line break that screws up my document, I tend to get irritated easily.**

**Also, about Christine and Joan, they will begin to be fleshed out in the chapter's to come, I will admit that their beginning was fairly weak. I might do a OMAKE regarding the school Orientation to see how Erwin react to Christine and Joan.**

**-Joannes808: Thanks for the vote of confidence, and about your tank selection, I would agree, those are nice tanks, but the reason I didn't include tanks like the Sherman, Cromwell, or even the T-34 was due to them being able to fullfil every job. The tanks I chose can't do that, but if they coordinate their efforts, they can make up for their flaws and even surpass a fleet of standard T-34s.**

**The other tanks like the M22, the T1, or the Nbfz were included as they didn't fit my idea. The Kv-1 would fit the assault element, but I like the Churchill tank a lot.**

**-Mxthomas: Thanks for suggesting the Ferdinand, but that might be a bit overpowering, but your suggestion did get me thinking about the Semovente 90/53; both had massive cannons, and both had mobility issues, but the Italian TD seems to have more character to me. Anyway, I will have other teams that will use the German TD as a key point to their strategy.**

**-Severstal: Thanks for your review and suggestions, though a few things to note. Henrietta's father is the CEO of a PMC, while Jackie's is a computer firm. I don't think computer techs are hated like mercs are. Also, I don't know much about the Japanese medical system, so I apologize for getting that wrong. **

**But your suggestion about the doctrine got me to the three element's idea, so thank you for getting my head into place.**

**-Dan: All of those tanks are great, but in the end they didn't fit my idea for Raven's peak's tank doctrine. Maybe when they get to the finals they will be added, but alas, I have to debate on the subject.**

**With the reviews covered, I thank you all, and as always, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Broken Treads and a Meeting in a Mall

* * *

><p>Erwin, Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine were all in their positions, manning the Semovente 9053 in their first actual driving lesson. Yesterday's lesson was Sgt. Harper getting everyone used to how a tank drives, with diagrams of the controls and then eventually showing how to drive the vehicle in action. Overall, it was pretty boring to Erwin, who didn't need to drive the Semovente 90/53. But Henrietta, who did, found it refreshing, as she hadn't driven a tank in a month.

"Henrietta, you comfortable, up there?" Erwin asked into the intercom. Due to the Semovente 90/53 having the driver separated from the rest of the crew, Erwin was also checking the intercom system, as any failures exposed now could spare them from losing the tank in the field.

"I hear your Erwin," Henrietta said. Katie, Joan, and Christine look at Erwin, with Katie rolling her eyes and Joan and Christine with their eyebrows raised.

"What's that about?" Joan asked. Erwin shrugged.

"My friends back at Ooarai called me Erwin, and I didn't mind it," Erwin said nonchalantly. "Anyway, doesn't matter too much. Henrietta, you know how to start the tank up, yes?" She didn't get a reply in the form of a yes but rather the roar of the engine starting up and then turning to a low rumble.

"I guess that answers that," said Christine as she balanced precariously in the back. The tank destroyer was meant only to have three in the back, and not four, so Christine was gripping onto whatever she could not to fall off, In this case, the side of the armor skirt that protect the crew from the side.

Erwin nodded. She then heard Erika speak into the crew tank's radio.

"Alright everyone, now starting with the Scout element, followed y the assault and ambush element, I want you guys to roll your tanks out of the hangar and form into a line just outside the hangar. I will give instructions once you guys complete the order."

Erwin watched as the light tanks sped out of the hangar, followed by the lumbering tanks that formed the assault group. She saw how they were fairly organized, but Erwin had her doubts that this would last long.

"Alright everyone," Erwin spoke into the radio to the Ambush element. "I want Ana to go first, followed by Irene, Vera, and Astrid. My tank will make up the rear." She then heard them sound off.

"Alright, this is Ana, we are en route."

"Following Ana in the 76."

"This is Vera, we copy. Following Ana's Su-76."

"This is Astrid, we shall follow Vera's Marder."

Erwin sighed; at least they followed orders, and she watched the Su-76s, and the Marder IIIs rolling out. She then felt the Semovente lurched forward as Henrietta pushed on the drive columns forward. Erwin looked at the others, and everyone except Christine looked happy; Christine was miffed with having to hang on to stay on.

"Which we had a tank with a seat for five," muttered Christine darkly. "But Riko, why in the world would anyone fail to armor the gun?"

"Well, it was a stop gap tank," Erwin explained. "The idea was to mount a big cannon onto a already available tank chassis to give the Italian army some mobile anti-tank capability. Armor wasn't a concern, as it was thought the range of the guns would keep the crew safe."

"But did it, and what happens if the tank gets snuck up from behind, what will keep us from being blown to pieces?" asked Joan. Erwin admittedly didn't know the answer to the second part, and it was vital to know if there was any risk of them getting killed by the shells. She knew that Miho often was out of her tank during the battle, but it was different between her being partially out of the tank as opposed to getting shot from behind and getting hit by a shell.

"Well, about the range, most of the time," Erwin said. "But I don't know how the shells work in the US, though I guess they would be the same as in Japan." Her voice wasn't as confident as she tried to make it, leaving Joan and Christine in doubt.

However, Erwin noted that all the tanks were successfully in a line outside the hangar. She saw however Erika and Sgt. Harper driving alongside the armor column in a Willys Jeep. Erika was manning the radio, about to give new orders.

"Alright, Now, I want everyone to go to the training field. It is just one kilometer down the road, where we will train in off-road driving." Erwin heard several students for further directions so they didn't get lost, with Erika being quick and concise in her directions. Erwin looked over the gun shield and watched the column moving slowly, with nothing going wrong. She sighed, and sat back down.

"So Joan, how does the gunnery position suite you?" Erwin asked. Joan smiled, her eyes lighting up.

"Oh very well, though you mentioned a periscope, which this tank doesn't have," Joan said snarkly, jabbing at Erwin's knowledge of the tank. Erwin wanted to snarl, but she sighed in resignation; she knew when she was beat.

"Fine, yes, I did mention a periscope, but I was thinking that this tank had one, much like a Stug III," Erwin said. "But I keep forgetting this doesn't need a periscope like the Stug needed." Joan smiled, proud how she made Erwin admit defeat. But thankfully, the armor column had arrived at the off road training area, which meant Erwin listened into the radio message.

"Alright, we will begin with an exercise in hill climbing," Erika began. "It is important you get the gear changes correct, that you know the slope of the hill, and the conditions. Never under any circumstances risk breaking your treads to go up a hill if the ground is soft and either your tank is heavy or the hill is steep." Erika then instructed each tank to begin to climb up and over a hill designated 331.

Erwin watched as the various tanks handled the hill differently. The light tanks easily climbed the hill, taking the least steep path. The other tanks followed the same path, but Erwin watched as Jackie's Churchill took a slightly steeper section of the hill like it was nothing. Erwin patched into the others of the Ambush Element.

"Alright, everyone listen up," Erwin began. "My tank shall move forward and probe for possible paths up the hill, and then I want the rest of you to follow."

"Yes Riko," the others replied, accepting her orders. Erwin gauged the hill, and saw nothing to worry about. Erwin smiled; this was too easy.

"Henrietta, I want you to take us up and then crest the hill. Be gentle on the tank, we have to mind Christine; she doesn't have a good hold," Erwin spoke to Henrietta.

Henrietta, knowing that while Erwin couldn't see her, nodded, and pushed the levers forward, engaging the drive, and pushed the Semovente forward, the tank destroyer moving forward. Erwin was smirking as the Semovente began the hill climb, slowly getting to the halfway mark. But that is when it went wrong.

Erwin felt the tank jerk violently, and she leaned around the gun shield. She saw that the left side of the tank was digging into the ground.

"Henrietta, halt!" Erwin shouted, but at that moment, Henrietta pushed the tank, which lead to a terrible crack as a pin in the track broke, destroying the tension in the track. "DAMN IT!"

"Riko, what is the matter?" Sgt. Harper asked over the radio. Erwin glared at the broken track.

"Sir, a pin in the track broke as the Semovente began to dig into soft soil," Erwin reported, feeling deflated. She heard Harper sigh.

"Can you repair the track?" he asked. Erwin shook her head.

"No sir, the pin broke in half and we lack a spare," Erwin said. "Orders?"

"Direct the others in the ambush element over the hill while I get the lads from the automotive maintenance to roll out and get your tank out of the mud."

Erwin sighed, and began to process of directing the other tanks along a better portion of the hill. The path she took was the path the others took, but she assumed that the T14s had done the damage that set her tank to break the camel's spine. Erwin and the others only had to help push one of the Su-76 when it began to dig in, by digging a channel for the tank to drive in to get out. By the time the rest of the ambush element crested the hill, Sgt. Harper and Erika arrived in their jeep, directing a Bergepanther armored recovery vehicle.

Erwin watched as Erich and a few other guys jumped out, quickly repaired the pin, reconnecting the tread to together, and began to hook the Semovente 90/53 up for towing. Erich came over.

"Well, see you got the big hitter Erwin," Erich said to her. Katie, Christine, and Joan sighed at Erwin's casualness to being called by that name. But Erwin smiled at Erich.

"Thanks for helping us out," Erwin said. She watched as the Panthers reversed, dragging the Semovente out of the hole it dug itself in. Erich shrugged, his face neutral in composure.

"Well, you might regret having us pulling you guys out," Erich noted. "And that is because Jacob Austin is driving the recovery tank." Erwin heard Katie whine.

"You are shitting me, right? He is going to use this to get us to get something from us." Erich sighed.

"I know, but hopefully, he won't…" Erich was interrupted by someone yelling at them.

"You fucking nit-wits, how hard is it to drive a tank without breaking something?!" yelled a guy as he began to climb out of the driver's seat. Erwin noted he had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He was taller than the others that was talking, and he wore a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Now, which of you is responsible for making me have to come out and drag your ass out of the mud?" the guy asked. Henrietta was about to step forward, but Erwin stopped her, giving her a 'I got this' look.

"I commanded the tank, so it would be me," Erwin said. "And you are?" The guy chuckled.

"Well now, you must be the new Asian chick who smashed the fucked out of my friend's toes the other day," the guy remarked. "But as to who I am, I would be Jacob Austin. Now then, let's talk about payment."

He grabbed a notepad from his pant pocket and took out a pen. He wrote something down.

"Now then, you are Riko Matsumoto, the incursion of debt is over having me waste my time dragging you out of a mess you made, and the debt shall be…" He paused, gauging Erwin, who was appalled that he was exploiting the situation. So she intervened.

"You are doing this as a part of your class," Erwin remarked. "What are you expecting to do when the school gets into the championships, use your position to garner as much debt as you can so we pretty much are to grovel at your feet? If so, I will suggest to whoever is best suited to find someone to replace you."

Jacob looked at Erwin for a moment, and then began to laugh, putting away the notepad.

"Are, aren't you feisty? But you make a fair point; you could under the right circumstances kick me out," He began to say. "However, it will be harder for you to prove I did anything wrong. But perhaps we can work something out." He then left and turned, leaving everyone including Erwin to shake their heads.

"I hate that bastard," muttered Katie. "He gives me the creeps." Joan then snickered.

"But didn't you date him in the eighth grade?" Joan asked.

"That was different! Back then his father wasn't the school superintendent and he wasn't as big a douche as he is now!" Erwin looked over at Erich.

"He isn't going to do this every time is he?" Erwin asked the white hair man. Erich nodded.

"Yeah, he is like a dirty lawyer, always willing to help, but for a price so steep you wish you went through the mess alone." Erich stated. "Well, I better go, and please inform the others of this incident, so they can be prepared." He then left, leaving Erwin to gather the others and drive the Semovente to the others.

Erwin sighed as the rest of the driving practice was about coordination of the team to spot obstacles and inform the driver of them. But she realized that later she would be going to the meeting at the mall with Jackie, and wondered what exactly would happen.

* * *

><p>After school ended and after dropping off her school bag, Erwin headed to the mall with Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine to the mall to meet with Jackie. Erwin was still fuming about Jacob Austin, but it was internal fuming, which made the others oblivious to her anger. The others were talking about the training.<p>

"Will the pin in the tracks break that off like that often?" Christine asked.

"Nah, the pins usually hold, however, if they are old, rusted, or if it is badly made," Henrietta stated. "I assume that the tank hasn't been well maintained if the pin broke that easily."

"Well, I hope they do something about seating, I have to hold on like an idiot because the back compartment is stupidly small." Erwin had to admit, the Semovente 90/53 needed to stop so the crew could do their job efficenty, as the compartment was too small for combat operations.

"Well, if we win battles, we could get some new tanks," Joan suggested.

"It's been suggested before," Katie said. "But I agree, getting a new tank might be better for us, at least one that needs five instead of four."

They walked into the food court, and saw Jackie waving them over. Erwin walked up to her table.

"Hello Jackie," Erwin saw. "You said you had a proposal?" She saw Jackie nod.

"Yes, but we have to wait for… never mind, here is Sarah right now." Erwin turned and saw a girl with black hair with blue highlights, and wearing a light pink shirt and blue jeans.

"Hello Jackie and Riko," said Sarah with a slight, if Erwin had to guess, British accent. "Mind telling me more about your proposal Jackie?" Sarah sat down, as did Erwin, and Jackie cleared her throat.

"Well, due to the need for a captain, I was thinking we, because we are already the leaders of the elements, discuss who becomes captain."

Erwin sighed; she figured this was Jackie's attempt to take control of the tankery team. But to her surprise, Sarah spoke up.

"Jackie, you are already the student body president and the head of the cheerleading squad, and beside, what experience do you have with tankery beside what everyone else here has had?" Sarah countered. Jackie snarled at first, but regained her composure.

"Well, I have had years of leading various groups, so I am a natural leader," Jackie fired back. "Thus, even without any experience in tankery, I would be the prime candidate for the team captain."

Erwin frowned, her argument was valid, but Sarah had other thoughts.

"Jackie, you already have a shit ton of things going on, so how are you going to juggle your responsibilities without letting one of them slack?" Sarah pointed out. Jackie sighed.

"If I shouldn't be the team captain, then who the hell should be? Certainly not you Sarah; you can't stand others. And Riko is the same, although that is because she is new here." Erwin was about to speak when Katie piped in.

"Hey, Riko was a part of the winning team for Ooarai in Japan's nationals last year," Katie stated aggressively. "Thus, she has experience in tankery." Jackie then smirked.

"Yeah, about that, I did some research, and no insult Riko, but your experience has been to say lack luster," Jackie began, as she pulled out her IPad, opening a document.

"In your fight against Saunders, while you aided in knocking out a couple of tanks, you were knocked out when you acted as a shield for the flag tank. Then in your fight against Pravda, you again did very little except for taking out the flag tank at the very end of the match. But in your fight against Kuromorimine, you did next to nothing and were knocked out moments after encountering the Maus tank. Thus I have to question your tactical 'experiences'."

Erwin felt her face flush in anger, annoyed that Jackie was calling her incompetent in front of her friends and others. What made it worse was that Jackie thought she didn't understand her mistakes, her errors, nor did she realize what was coursing through her brain at the time. She stood up.

"Listen Jackie, just because I wasn't the most decisive member of Ooarai doesn't mean I don't understand my faults or that I acted without logic. Against Saunders, I was protecting the flag tank from fire for as long as possible. Against Pravda, I acted as a scout despite the weather conditions, and I worked with Miho's tank to ambush the flag tank. The only thing you got right was me against the Maus; it was stupid and foolish, but I wanted revenge for taking out one of our tanks."

She sat back down, with Jackie glaring at her. Erwin would've thought things would've looked grim if it wasn't for Sarah smirking at Erwin. Apparently she thought Jackie got put in her place.

"Well, it sounds like Riko understands the nature of the game," Sarah said. "So I don't see a problem with her being the team captain other than she isn't well known." Jackie, feeling cornered and being team up against, continued to glare at Erwin.

"Do you have any experience with ordering people about, organizing them, and getting them to follow you?" Jackie asked, her voice beginning to shake in anger. However, her question burned Erwin; she never had 'people' skills, and she was possibly one of the worst people for motivating a group.

"Not really," Erwin replied. "I am good with planning, coming up with tactics and setting up ambushes, but when it comes to people, I admittedly suck." With this admission, Sarah and Jackie argued back and forth, and this made Erwin and everyone else rather uncomfortable. It became apparent neither side would back down, with Sarah doing everything to make it so Jackie wasn't the captain, and Jackie making sure she was.

Erwin was about to ask the other's if they wanted to leave the fruitless discussion when Henrietta spoke.

"Hey, what it Riko here is the captain and Jackie is her XO?" Henrietta suggested. Both Sarah and Jackie looked at Henrietta.

"What?" Sarah asked, a bit confused. Henrietta clarified.

"Well, if Riko is the captain, she can deal with the planning, strategizing, and giving orders for the elements in battle. However, with Jackie her XO, she can maintain the organization of the team, making sure everyone is following orders and informing Riko of any problems. It solves the problem of Jackie's lack of tankery experience and Riko's lack of people skills."

Both Jackie and Sarah paused, considering the pros and cons. After a minute of silence, they nodded.

"That is the best of both worlds," Sarah commented, secretly glad that Jackie wouldn't be the captain for tankery.

"Yes, I can live with that," Jackie said. "However, I say if Riko makes any errors in command that either makes us lose battles or nearly does so, and then I wish to be able to take over." Sarah began to argue, but Erwin cut her off.

"Fine, but that will be a call for the commanders of each tank to make," Erwin stated. "Not just a call between the three of us." Jackie and Sarah nodded again, although Sarah was a bit reluctant.

"I think this solves the issue with leadership," Jackie said. "Now then, is there anything we need to talk about, or can we head home now, I got homework to get to?" Erwin remembered Erich's advice from earlier.

"Yeah, just one thing, Jacob Austin is going to be a problem," Erwin spoke up. "Earlier today when he was pulling my tank out, he tried to get us to pay 'debt'. I want to know if anyone experiences issues with him." This elicited a groan from Jackie.

"God damn it, I thought I was down dealing with that jackass," Jackie groaned. "Is he going to be following us for the tankery championship?" Erwin nodded. Jackie cursed again, but left, with Sarah giving Erwin a thumbs up.

"Well, that went better than I expected," Katie admitted. "So Erwin, what are we going to do now?" Erwin shrugged.

"I don't know, but I better get home so I can work on homework," Erwin said. "Let's get out of here, maybe we can meet up on the weekend and do something." The others nodded, and they headed out of the mall, content with the progress of the meeting.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay in posting, I have been trying to figure out how to introduce the ass hat that shall be Jacob Austin and figure out how the meeting would go down. But to the reviews!<strong>

**-Theralion: Erwin's leadership style with be more focused than Miho's with a clear idea in her head. Miho went with the flow, able to adjust on the fly, but I expect that Erwin, much like Rommel, would have a plan, in his head, and only adjust when forced to.**

** As to the issue with the tanks like the Marder III, SU-76, and Semovente 90/53 and protection, I am working on a few ideas, one of them being that, as you suggested, the tanks will be modified with a special type of armor to protect the crew. I heard about a US army training system where they use magnets to replace the danger of live ammo for a more realistic battle simulation, so maybe that could be implement, though I don't know how.**

** Also, thanks for pointing out my grammar mistakes and the line break function, I will be sure to use it. I will discuss Erika a bit later.**

**-MxThomas: I figure the range to which the Semovente could engage targets and the power of its cannon more than makes up for the less than stellar protection, while not being overpowered. And it does look like the Waffentrager Pz Iv.**

**-Lunarium: I will introduce the other characters from Japan later, when the championships begin in earnest, but that isn't for a while. As for tanks, I might include the T-28 for an enemy team, the Vk3601H maybe later on, but I won't include the STB-1, it is outside the frame of WW2 and thus outside the frame of the story. It's a nice tank, but it isn't going to show up.**

**-Severstal: Erwin's opinions of tactics will be show cased later, but I assert the notion that Erwin wasn't acting to the best of her abilities in GuP due to being a subordinate, and thus her tactics skills were limited. **

** But her 'hard stance' is based on Rommel's view of soldiers; Rommel hated cowards and deserters, seeing them as a waste of military resources. I figure Erwin wouldn't approve of those who desert, but she isn't against popular leaders; rather she wants loyal soldiers who follow orders. I might have to concede bringing up Order 227 is probably OOC. Hindsight however is 20/20.**

** As for Erika's being a tank instructor, one I didn't realize until you guys brought it up that she was in the same year as Erwin; the anime potrayed her and Maho as seeming older than Miho and the others at Ooarai, and thus I thought she would've graduated.**

** But perhaps Erika could've been allowed to act as an instructor while doing her course work at home; Kuromorimine is certainly the upper classes, and I don't doubt they could allow students to do their work online if they are in certain circumstances. And what better way to find out the opposition than being a instructor. ;)**

** About the tank selection, I like that you think it is a nice selection. I mentioned the issue with the Marder III and Semovente earlier, but those tanks are meant for long range engagement and attacking from concealment, and their frontal armor is thin, so the risk of a tank getting behind the is remote, as they probably will be taken out from the front.**

** As for whether a person can skirt the system by saying 'these tanks are for tankery', hehe, no, they can't. Tankery tanks are owned by both the school and the military, thus preventing individual to bypass the federal laws. Also thanks for pointing out the periscope flaw, I was thinking it needed one, but I couldn't find any source saying it had one, so thanks. **

**-CD11: Thanks for approving of the story, glad you are liking it so far.**

**-Dan: Thanks for liking the tank selection, but they will get more impressive, trust me.**

**As always guys, please favorite, follow, and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A New Panzer and Captain.

* * *

><p>Erwin was yawning lethargically, being tired from the workout in the JROTC class. She had spent most of it running around the track as fast as she could with a drag chute. To say she was tired was an understatement, but she forced herself to remain alert, for they were now in the hangar, discussing group tactics.<p>

Erika was busy talking to the class about the importance of staying together and having situational awareness.

"It must be stressed that tanks in columns should not all have their turrets facing in the same direction, as it reduces the response time in the column comes under fire," Erika explained. "Ideally, the front tank should observe forward, the tanks in the middle observe the flanks, alternating left and right, and the rear tank should keep observation to the rear."

Erwin nodded like the rest of the class, however, as she watched the other tank commanders in the ambush element, she knew that they had the same thought; what the hell were they supposed to do? All of the ambush element's tanks lacked turrets, and they had terrible crew compartments. But seeing as the others refused to ask the obvious, Erwin bit the bullet.

"Erika, what about the ambush element, our tanks lack turret and thus we can't employ the same tactic," Erwin asked. Erika sighed.

"That is true, however in battles, we will have the assault element escort the ambush element to their point, which will make sure you guys won't have to worry about getting flanked and knocked out."

Erwin sighed, thankful that they had a plan of some sort. But it didn't make Erwin any happier, for if they were on a mountain pass and they were forced to go single file, all of the tank destroyers would be vulnerable. But alas, Erika had moved onto a different subject; fire control.

"Moving on, we shall talk about target prioritization and when to use different ammunition types," Erika then rolled out sliding table with various 75mm shells.

"Armor Piercing Shells are a general purpose shell, useful against tanks. It lacks any explosive elements in the warhead, and the farther away you are from the target, the less penetration your shells will have. Next, we have High Explosive, or HE shells. These use explosive power rather than armor penetration to knock out vehicles. He shells are useful for taking out obstacles, light vehicles, but useless against heavier vehicles."

At this point, Erwin saw Astrid and Vera looking at her, with a look of terror in their eyes. Erwin knew of their concerns; what if HE shells were fired at their tanks? They were open-topped and open rear tanks, and thus didn't have protection for anyone other than the driver. Erwin raised her and the others in the ambush element's concerns.

"Not to interrupt again Erika, but what about us in the ambush element? We lack the protection to be safe against HE shells. So how will we be safe in battle?" Erika looked at her, her face frowning. However, Sgt. Harper got up.

"Ah, about that. The Su-76s will be upgraded to the Su-76m, which protects the crew compartment by sealing off the roof. The Marder III Ausf Ms will be given an upgrade to cover the rear and the roof with carbon armor. However, about your Semovente, I will need to talk to you group after the class."

With Sgt. Harper's hesitation with regards to the Semovente, Erwin looked over at Christine, Joan, Katie, and Henrietta. They all were having grim looks on their faces. She saw Henrietta pass her a note while Erika continued to discuss the other shell types.

'_Are we going to lose the Semovente 90/53?' _Henrietta wrote, her fear apparent in the rapidly written note that was very different from her usual well written and elegant handwriting. Erwin wrote back and pass it to Henrietta.

'_I don't know,'_. She saw Henrietta sigh, but Christine looked happy by the note. Erwin probably suspected it was because she didn't want to stay with a tank where they were hanging on while they were driving. Erwin had to admit, but the Semovente 90/53 was ill-suited to maneuver warfare. That is why in the long stretches of North Africa is did excellent; it didn't need to move to knock tanks out.

Erwin sighed, and Erika was beginning to discuss the finer points to fire control.

"As a rule of thumb, a tank thickest armor is in its front, so try and get shots into its flank or rear whenever possible. This will increase your first-hit chances of knocking the tank out."

"Next, when a group of tanks come into view, hold your fire until they are in range; it is a waste of ammunition if they aren't in the effective range of you cannon and it gives away your position. When it comes to target selection, focus fire on the biggest threat."

Erwin then began to mull over the details, becoming bored and stressed at the same time, wondering what would happen to her tank and her team. Would they be forced to lose the Semovente and be unable to participate, would they get a new tank, or would the Semovente get some new upgrades? She didn't know, and it was driving her mad.

The lesson continued until there were ten minutes left. At this point, Erika directed everyone's attention to the task of choosing the captain of the team. She had Henrietta pass out voting cards, to which everyone was to write down the name of who they would choose for the position of captain.

Erwin looked over at Jackie, who nodded silently. Erwin wrote her name down, and gave it to Erika who was collecting the votes. She sat quietly, wondering if Jackie would keep to her word, but after a minute of counting, the vote was tallied.

"With the majority of the vote, the captain of the team will be Riko Matsumoto," declared Erika. Erwin breathed a sigh of relief; Jackie had indeed kept to her word. She looked at Katie, who was giving her a thumbs up. At this point, Sgt. Harper told the class to spend the last couple of minutes reviewing what they went over, while hailing over Erwin and her group. As they approached his desk, he had a face that was grim and was torn between resentment and anger.

"Riko, Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine, about your tank, I have been reviewing the rules," Sgt. Harper began. "There is next to no possible way to make the Semovente 90/53 compatible with the rules." Erwin looked at Harper, her face paling.

"But sir, I thought all the tanks were compatible," Erwin said. "Didn't the school check the rules to make sure it was fine?" Sgt. Harper chuckled gravely.

"Well, to be honest, I wasn't there when the school was requesting vehicles, so it was left for the head of the automotive class to choose the tanks with the help of some of some advisors," Harper explained.

"When they got to the Semovente 90/53, the teacher saw the big gun and the performance, but he didn't pay attention to the crew safety, thinking he could find a way to make it compatible. However, the only way to do so would be to spend of three hundred thousand dollars to get a top of the line ARENA protection system, and the school isn't willingly to spend that much upgrading one tank."

Erwin sighed; and had to admit that the Semovente, the more she thought about it, was a terrible tank for the championships. She sighed, unable to speak. So Henrietta spoke, asking the obvious.

"Then what will we drive?" Henrietta asked. "If we can't drive the Semovente, what will the school do?" At this point, Erika arrived.

"Well, Harper and I have been discussing what to do, and we are already getting a replacement vehicle, we will use the Semovente as a trade in for a suitable replacement that can easily be upgraded for safety concerns," Erika noted.

"Thus, you will be getting the tank by Monday, when it should arrive." At this point, Erwin had gotten over the shock of not having the powerful Italian tank destroyer to ask the question that was on their mind.

"Then what tank destroyer will we be getting?" Erwin asked. Sgt. Harper then smiled.

"Let's just say that it will make the Semovente 90/53 look horrifically outdated," he said. "But for this weekend, you guys will be free, as you won't have a tank to drive in. That said, you guys will need to stay after school on Monday and Tuesday to practice on the new tank."

They all nodded, but they were annoyed that the answer was vauge. So Erwin decided to probe.

"Is the tank going to be a tank destroyer, and what is its nationality?" Erwin asked. Erika smiled.

"It is a tank destroyer but other than that, I won't tell," Erika teased, with Harper trying not to laugh. Erwin and the others were forced to concede, and headed over to their desks. Erwin looked over at Katie.

"Damn, this sucks," Erwin said. "We lost the biggest hitter due to incompetence from a gy who didn't know what to look for, and now we don't know what tank we will be getting." Katie nodded.

"Yeah, but apparently it is supposed to be better than the Semovente 90/53," Katie said, trying to cheer Erwin and Henrietta up. At this point, Jackie had walked over.

"Why do you guys look like doom and gloom?" she asked. Joan told her all the details, to which even Jackie swore. "Damn it that is the only tank in this lot that could take on the likes of Tigers, Panthers, and the other heavy tanks with ease. And you don't know what tank you guys will be getting?"

"No," muttered Henrietta. "That only makes this worse, it is like Monday all over again, having to wait for the weekend to find out what we will be getting." Jackie nodded.

"Well, at least you guys won't have to be driving tomorrow," Jackie said. "Maybe you guys can hang out somewhere to take you mind off of this, er, update. I will inform the others of this notification." With that, Jackie turned and left, leaving Erwin and the others on their own.

"Well, anyone have any idea on what we could do this weekend?" Christine asked. No one had anywhere they wanted to go, nowhere they had to go, but Henrietta was the one to come up with an idea after two minutes of discussing the issue.

"How about we hang out at my place, and we can take out some of the Panzers my father has in his private collection," Henrietta suggested. "We can even see the progress he has made on his E-100." Erwin had been curious to see Henrietta father's collection, so she nodded.

"Well, beats sitting around at my place," Erwin said. "You guys up to it?" Katie nodded, as did Joan and Christine.

"Then Henrietta, when will we need to be there?" Erwin asked. Henrietta shrugged.

"Don't worry, you guys can park at Erwin's, and we can walk to my place," Henrietta said. "Then we can spend the day in the garage." The others nodded, and with that, the school day was over. Erwin and Katie walked to their bus, left to wonder how tomorrow would go.

* * *

><p>Erwin was dressed in her field Marshall uniform, complete with the peak cap, waiting for Joan, Christine, and Katie to show up. She was in the living room, talking with Henrietta, while her mother was watching the news.<p>

"So, is your father alright with us coming over?" Erwin asked. Henrietta nodded.

"Yeah, I talked to him last night, and he said it was ok. He just doesn't want us taking out the more heavy vehicles out for a drive, but other than that, we can drive whatever is good to go," Henrietta said. Erwin heard her mother sigh.

"Riko, don't you ever think about anything other than history or tanks?" she asked. Erwin didn't turn to look at her mother, but she did reply.

"I do, just not often," Erwin replied. Her mother was about to comment, but at the moment, Katie's car pulled in. "That's them mom, I guess I will see you later." Without missing a beat, Erwin and Henrietta got up and left the living room to meet up with the others. Erwin saw the Christine was glaring at Henrietta.

"Henrietta, you do realize that it is still summer?" Christine whined. "Please tell me your house isn't too far away." Henrietta nodded.

"It's about an hour's walking distance," Henrietta noted. "C'mon, the sooner we get going the better."

With that, the group walked, talking about various things. First it was fashion, which drove Erwin nuts, she never understood the appeal of spending hours on end in a shop picking out shirts and pants for certain occasions. Then it was on the economy, which made everyone depressed, so it was quickly brushed past. However, the next topic made Erwin rather uncomfortable, to say the least.

"So Katie, who are you dating again?" Christine asked. Katie shrugged.

"No one at the moment, I was dating Kyle, but we broke up after he and my father went at it," Katie said. "But anyway, what about yourself?" Christine shook her head.

"Still single, not since the disaster at the school prom last year," Christine said. "And anyway, you always know who I am going to date." Christine looked at Erwin.

"What about you Erwin, anyone you are interested in?" Erwin blushed, but not for the reason of having someone she was interested in, but rather at the fact that she was still awkward around guys, except for maybe Erich, but she didn't see herself and him getting together.

"N-n-no, not really," Erwin replied. She hoped the conversation would end, but it didn't.

"Really, then why the cute blush and stutter?" Christine asked. "C'mon, you can tell us. Who is it?" Erwin sighed, why did people in America have to prod into each other's business?

"Seriously, I don't have anyone I am keen on," Erwin said. "And anyway, I don't think I would be comfortable…" Katie chuckled.

"What Erwin, have you never dated?" Erwin was speechless, but it served as her answer. "Wow, I didn't think that you would've gone through junior high and most of high school single."

"Well, all the schools I went to were all female, so I didn't have anyone to date," Erwin said. "And also, getting groped on the first day at Raven's Peak doesn't make me want to meet a guy any time soon."

"Alright, Alright, we will drop the subject," Christine said, raising her hands. She looked over at Henrietta. "Henrietta, are we near?" Henrietta nodded, pointing to a house with a large hangar on the hill.

"That's my house, but let's go to the hangar first." They followed Henrietta to the hangar, which Henrietta opened with a 6 digit passcode. When they entered, Erwin felt like a kid in a candy store. There were three rows of tanks, from various nationalities and designs. She walked over to the first tank, which was a M18 Hellcat.

Erwin was looking in the turret as Henrietta explained to the others the tanks her father had. Erwin was surprised by the size of the Hellcat; it wasn't much large than the Sherman, but yet it was much faster and mounted a better cannon. She smiled, and began to follow Henrietta's tour.

They enjoyed walking through the tanks, though they were getting a little tired of walking. But Henrietta and Erwin were enjoying themselves, and Henrietta had one last thing to show them.

"C'mon, the E-100 is in this separate hangar," Henrietta urged the others, and lead Erwin by the arm. Erwin protested to this action, as it was causing her a bit of pain. But when she saw the hanger, she stopped, amazed by the incomplete heavy tank that lay before her.

With the chassis complete, Erwin saw the sheer size of the E-100. While the hull was smaller than the Maus, it wasn't by much. She walked along it, just shocked by the size. She could see that the turret ring was installed, but there was no turret, so she couldn't know what gun was going to be mounted.

She looked over at Henrietta, who found the others seats so they could rest for a while. Henrietta came over to Erwin.

"What do you think?" Henrietta asked. Erwin smiled.

"I think this will be a great tank to see in action, when you get the turret and I suppose the engine mounted," Erwin remarked. "Has you father decided on a gun?"

"No I haven't," said a strong voice, causing everyone to turn to the source. Erwin saw a man that towered over them at six feet eight inches, with a simple mustache, brown hair, and green eyes, wearing black coveralls standing at the door.

"Hi dad," Henrietta said nervously. "I was showing my friends the E-100." Her father nodded.

"Of course," he said. "Now then, I assume they are helping you man the Semovente 90/53 for Raven's Peak's team?" Erwin felt his powerful presence, and couldn't help but feel unnerved by him.

"Well, sort of," Henrietta said. "We are no longer using a Semovente 90/53, due to protection issues." He nodded again.

"That's a shame; that tank would do wonders against the opposing teams, what with its 90mm cannon being better in most aspects than the German 88mm L/56." Erwin agreed with him.

"But enough rambling from me, I am Victor Moran, Henrietta's father. And you guys are?" Erwin began introducing herself and the others, with him remaining quiet throughout the introductions. But once they were done, he smiled.

"Well, it is good to hear Henrietta has friends," he said. He pulled up a chair to sit on. "So do you know what you guys are going to drive?" They all shook their heads.

"No sir," Erwin replied. "They said we are getting it Monday, and that they are trading the Semovente for it." Erwin could've sworn she saw Victor's mouth twitch, but he laughed.

"Well, whatever it is, it has to be as good or better than the Semovente," he said. "So be glad that the tank you are getting will be able to fit all of you guys." He then pointed at Erwin. "Say, if you had to choose a cannon for the E-100, which would you suggest?"

Erwin looked over at Henrietta, who was mouthing '150mm', and Erwin mentally chuckled. Sure the 128mm cannon was well suited to taking out tanks, but the 150mm offered better firepower against bunkers and other targets.

"I say probably the 150mm cannon," Erwin replied, getting a nod from Henrietta. "It has more combat uses than the 128mm cannon, and the 170mm is impractical." Victor nodded.

"Fair enough," he said. "Well, then, if you guys will excuse me, I will be working on the engine compartment now." He led the girls out of the room, leaving them open to hang out in the Hangar. After an hour, they decided that since it was getting late, they better call it a day. Katie, Joan, Christine, and Erwin left, leaving Henrietta in the hangar.

Henrietta went to the E-100 hangar, and walked over to the back of the tank. She had some suspicions she wanted to scratch at.

"Father, do you know something about the Semovente?" Henrietta asked. She heard her father curse as he dropped a wrench in surprise.

"Fuck! Well, to answer your question, yes." Henrietta paused, wondering over how he could know.

"Are you getting the Semovente?" she asked. "And if so, what did you trade to get it?" Her father chuckled, crawling out of the engine compartment and wiping his hands on a towel.

"Yes I am, those tanks are rare," he said. "But as to what I traded for it, well I want to keep it a surprise for you." Henrietta glared at her father, who sighed. "Fine, I will give you a clue; its Russian. Other than that, you're on your own." He then left the hangar, leaving Henrietta to consider the choices.

She doubted it would be another Su-76, the school wouldn't be stupid enough to get a third tank of the same type. Maybe a Su-85 or Su-100, but she remembered that they only had room for 4. She tried to think of a Soviet tank destroyer with a five man crew. The only ones she could think of were…

She paused, shocked that her father would actually give the school such a massive tank for the Semovente 90/53, but then again, he had a bit of a soft spot for her, so if he could kill two birds with one stone, he would. She got up, looking forward to Monday's tankery class.

* * *

><p>Erwin was waiting with Katie at the hangar in her JROTC uniform, tapping her foot in anxiety due to not knowing what tank she was going to command. She looked over at Katie.<p>

"So, any bets on what we will be getting?" Erwin asked. Katie shook her head.

"No way, I don't know about tanks to be making bets on what we could be getting," Katie said. They were about to continue when they saw Henrietta skipping along, in her uniform. She had a smile on her face.

"Hi guys," Henrietta said. "Looking forward to today?" Erwin and Katie shook their head, which made Henrietta wince. _Shit, I forgot to tell them what we will be driving…_

"What are you so happy about?" Erwin asked. "I rarely see you this happy, and why weren't you in JROTC?" Henrietta shrugged.

"I got a pass from Cpt. Proctor to help out with something earlier," Henrietta said defensively. "I was busy too." Erwin was about to continue when Joan and Christine arrived. Christine looked as though she had been sent to the eastern front.

"I want the day to be over," Christine whined. "I need to get some sleep."

"What did you do last night?" Erwin asked. Christine yawned.

"Not get sleep, that's what. Damn neighbors decided to play into the night." Erwin sighed, she didn't want to deal with someone who was sleep deprived, she heard of how hard it was to get Mako moving in the morning back at Ooarai.

"Alright, then let's hope that today's practice won't be too long," Erwin muttered. She continued to ponder Henrietta's cheerful nature. Did she know something we didn't? Erwin considered it, but sighed, finding it unlikely. Erwin pushed back all thoughts as Erika and Sgt. Harper arrived at the hangar, looking a bit excited.

"Alright everyone, time to discuss some things," Sgt. Harper called out to the class. Everyone gathered closer to him, with Erwin's group being the closest.

"As some of you no doubt no, we were forced to replace the Semovente 90/53 due to issues with crew protection. However, due to the close proximity of a tank collector and the pulling of a few strings, we have got a replacement tank. But before we get to the tank, we have to discuss the nationals."

Erwin sighed at not knowing still what tank she was going to command, but word on the nationals was a welcome sight. She paused, getting ready for the news.

"The nationals will begin on November 8th, with a ceremony held in Washington D.C. for the opening. This means we have two months of training before we go to D.C. for the start of the championships. So starting this week, on top of vehicle driving, we will incorporate gunnery practice, and by the end of next week I expect to begin mock battles between the elements to get better teamwork skills."

Erwin thought about the start of the championships. November 8th, the start of Operation Torch, the US/British invasion of German occupied Morocco. She pondered if it had any significance; did it mean that even with great strategy, their efforts will be undermined, or will it be a hard fought victory?

She quit entertaining her historical fancy as Harper was then about to open the hangar. But he paused, looking at her group.

"Since it was your tank removed, I guess you should see it first," Harper muttered. He let them enter the bright hangar, and they proceeded to their new tank. Erwin held her breath, and saw to her amazement a easily recognizable muzzle brake. She felt her heart pounding, wondering it it really was what she thought it was.

She came to the front of the tank, and smiled at its off center gun mount, the massive muzzle brake, and the rather boxy shape of the tank.

"I can't believe our luck," Erwin muttered to the group. "It's an ISU-152." Unlike the Semovente 90/53, the ISU-152 was a terror to all tanks on the battlefield.

Armed with the massive 152mm ML/20s howitzer, it was designed as an assault gun, but also filled the role of tank destroyer and indirect artillery support. Its armor wasn't anything to impressive, but at the time it was a major problem for the Germans, who were expecting to out-range the Russians on the steppes. The ISU-152's 90mm sloped armor forced the Germans to get closer than they would've preferred, and closer to the cannon that could destroy the heaviest of tanks.

Erwin climbed on top of the tank and opened the hatch, finding the tight crew compartment to be the only problem. She smiled at the others.

"Hah, this tank is better than that Italian TD any day!" Erwin remarked. She saw Henrietta smiling, which caused Erwin to realize why Henrietta was so happy.

"You knew we were getting an ISU?" Erwin asked her. Henrietta nodded.

"Yeah, I did have to drive the tank into the hangar; that was why I was absent from JROTC." Erwin couldn't help but hug Henrietta, giddy over the fact that she was now going to command such a dangerous tank. She smiled; today was well worth it.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: And we come to the end of a chapter. I must say one thing about the main purpose of this chapter.<strong>

**I wanted to keep the Semovente 90/53, but I had no way to rationally make it safe enough for the Erwin's team to use it. Also, it lacked anywhere for anyone other than the driver and maybe the commander to sit, so in the last chapter, everyone save for Henrietta would be hanging on for their lives. So, sorry you Italian tank lovers, no 90/53 due to no way of fitting it in after all of your guy's information.**

**But onto the reviews;**

**-Theralion: Jackie is a very dynamic character, something that I felt Girls und Panzer was lacking in a way. Other than the main group, we barely got to see the others change with time. So I am glad you are enjoying Jackie's development. **

**As for the profanity, you must've had a better high school experience than I, as when I was going in Junior High all of my friends had the mouths of sailors. So it might be OOC, but compared to what I know, it doesn't seem irrational.**

**-Mxthomas: The Marder III Ausf M mounted the Pak 40 anti-tank cannon, which was effective against all but the heaviest of Allied tanks. Also note that the Marder III was very plentiful. As for the Su-8, that is a self-propelled howitzer, not something you would want for a frontline vehicle, even one participating in ambushes. **

**-Joannes808: I know the Semovente 90/53 used an ammo carrier, but it still didn't solve the inexcuseable failure on my part to realize all the problems with using the TD. As for Jackie's accusations, I was working from my memory, and I didn't get to see the battle between Ooarai and Anzio, so hope that explains any of the faults in Jackie's explanations.**

**-majoramiruddin: Thank you for the complement. **

**-Severstal: Yep, Jacob is the hate magnet, but he serves is purpose. Jackie gets to be more fluid, shifting between enemy and friend, enough so that Erwin will be forced to trust her, but not enough to risk her plans on Jackie.**

**As for some of your other points, there are too many to get too! But they are all relevant, and I will address the major ones as best I can here.**

**The reason for the Bergepanther is more that I could find any source material for recovery vehicles that would be able to tow the heavier tanks like the T14, the Churchill Mk VII, or the Maltildas. So I went with a heavy recovery vehicle to play it safe.**

**Erwin's tactical experience and Jackie's perception of it is skewed because Jackie couldn't know of all what was happening, and the match between St. Gloriana and Ooarai wasn't a part of the nationals, it was a private match. **

**Erika's place as instructor is similar to an internship, but it has consequences in the end that back fire on her… Won't say much more on it for now, but trust me, she tries to play two sides and is forced to side with one and cut her ties to the other.**

**I like to thank everyone for the reviews, suggestions, and changes, they do help, and the information is enlighting. So as always, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Of gunnery practice and of home

* * *

><p>Erwin, Katie, Henrietta, Joan, and Christine were in their ISU-152, waiting for the start of gunnery practice. Joan was operation the gunner seat, aiming through the periscope to help aim the howitzer. Katie was the breach operator with Christine was the loader. Erwin smiled as she sat in the commander position, operating the radio.<p>

"Is everyone in the ambush unit ready?" Erwin spoke through the radio.

"Yes Erwin!" came a bunch of replies from the other tank commanders. Erwin smiled, hoping to show off the firepower of the ISU-152 today during practice. She was driving up to the firing lane, leading the ambush element. As they came to the firing lane, they heard Erika speaking through the radios.

"Alright you guys, the other elements are already engaging their targets, so let's begin with an overview of the shells you guys will be using. Astrid and Vera, your tanks will be using standard AP shells, as the APCR shells are more expensive. This will make your effective range about 500 meters, as at that range facing a 90 degree target, you will have about 130mm of penetration."

"Ana and Irene, your Su-76s will be using Armor piercing High Explosive, which means at 500 meters you will only have about 90mm of penetration, so close the distance. Since indirect fire requires different tactics, we won't be using HE shells at the moment."

Erwin was glad that her fellow tank commanders were getting information about their guns during the practice, as it will prevent them from taking shots that will never do damage. But now it was for her crew to get their information on their gun.

"Erwin, the ISU-152 will have access to High-explosive and Armor-Piercing Ball Cap shells. The He shells won't have any range, but for the APBC, you can engage targets up to 2000 meters as you will still have 105mm of penetration."

Erwin blew a sigh of relief; they would be using APBC due to the fact that if they used the He shells against most tanks they would completely decimate the tank and have a strong possibly of killing the crew. But Erwin knew that He shells had their uses, even against other tanks, but she put the thought aside.

"Alright, load AP," Erwin ordered, while she went to get sights on the target. She saw it was in the silhouette of a Panzer IV. She checked the distance using the periscope and the mils. She determined the range.

"Joan, target is five hundred meters away," Erwin informed Joan.

"Alright, adjusting the gunnery sights," Joan confirmed. Erwin turned and saw Christine struggling with the heavy shell. When Christine finally got the shell in place, she then took another ten seconds to load the charge bag. Katie closed the breach, giving Erwin a thumbs up.

"Gun's loaded," Katie said. Erwin nodded.

"Joan, fire when ready," Erwin said. She saw Joan fiddling with the elevation of the gun, before finally pulling the trigger. The entire tank shook as the Ml-20 hurled the 47kg shell at the target. Erwin watched as the shell hit the target dead center.

"Good shot!" Erwin said. "Load AP again." They did this four more times, but Erwin began to notice a problem after the third shell was loaded; Christine, for worse was unfit to act as loader. She struggled to pick the shells and the powder charge and put them into the breach of the gun. Thus they were only averaging a shot a minute.

Erwin looked around, and watched with envy as Jackie's Churchill was firing round after round, with her about firing around twelve rounds a second. But Erwin noticed that the Churchill was firing at targets at one hundred meters. She then remembered that the 75mm cannon lacked effective armor penetration with standard AP; if they wanted better performance they would need to use APCR.

She turned back at their gunnery practice, and was surprised that Joan was able to keep the shells landing in the same area. But Erwin panicked at the thought of trying to hit a moving target; the Ml-20 was a low velocity weapon, and thus they would have to get close to engage moving targets.

Erwin ordered them to fire 5 more shells, and watched hopelessly as Christine struggled to load the shells. A few times, Erwin had to turn around and aid Christine. She didn't blame her, the shells were much heavier than what the others were using. But Erwin knew that they would have to build up her upper body to deal with the shells.

After they fired the next five shots, Erika came over the radio.

"Alright guys, that wrap it up; return to the hangar, we will discuss more about gunnery operations when we get back to the hangar," Erika said over the general radio. But Erwin then got a direct chatter from Erika.

"Erwin, your crew was firing too slowly, you need to get that rate of fire up," Erika said. Erwin sighed.

"I know that, I forgot how heavy the shells for the ISU-152 were. Don't worry, I will get my crew to work on it," Erwin said, which made Erika disconnect. "God damn her."

"What's wrong?" Henrietta asked. Erwin explained what Erika had said, and the others agreed with her annoyance.

"Has Erika never had to carry a shell as heavy as this?" Catherine asked. Erwin shook her head.

"In the nationals she commanded a King Tiger, but that 88mm shell weight a fifth of this, and it was a one-piece shell." Erwin said. She wondered how nice it was to use one-piece shells, and how two piece shells were much slower to fire. But she turned to Joan.

"Joan, how in the world were you keeping the shells landing on the target over and over?" Erwin asked. "This wasn't designed for long range direct fire support; it was designed to get in close with its armor and blast the hell out of bunkers."

Joan shrugged.

"I had a long time to aim the cannon between shots," Joan explained. "It isn't hard since by the time the cannon was loaded I was then making fine-tune adjustments."

"I see," Henrietta said. "you were able to take advantage of the slow process of loading the cannon to your advantage."

"Yeah, if we were firing much faster, I would struggle," Joan said. Erwin nodded.

"Well, how long would it take for you to fully aim?" Erwin asked, hoping to get an idea for a good rate of fire. She hoped for maybe three rounds a minute; it would keep Erika quiet, and it would allow them to deal with threats close up.

"About twenty five seconds," Joan estimated. "Ten seconds for the smoke to clear, and fifteen to aim." Erwin groaned, that would only mean two rounds a minute.

"Alright, we will figure something out then," Erwin said. "Anyway, Henrietta, how does the ISU-152 drive?" Henrietta chuckled.

"It drives very well, much better than a KV or even a the Matilda tanks," Henrietta said. "It isn't fast, but at least this tank shouldn't get stuck."

"That is good to hear," Erwin said. "Anyway, let's finish class and head home." All the girls agreed, and the rest of the class was spent being lectured by Erika and Sgt. Harper about the importance of the first shot.

* * *

><p>Erwin walked into her house, expecting to be alone, but saw that her mother was sitting on the couch, watching the news.<p>

"Hi mother," Erwin said awkwardly. Her mother turned to her and waved.

"Hi Riko, how was school?" her mother asked. Erwin shrugged.

"Pretty good I guess, physics is boring, JROTC is interesting, and my team got to practice with firing the ISU-152," Erwin said quickly. She put her bag down on one of the kitchen chairs. "Mother, why are you home, shouldn't you be at work?"

Her mother shook her head.

"Nah, my hours finally got settled; I will work from five in the morning to three in the afternoon," her mother said. "Unless there is something going on that requires I stay after."

Erwin wanted to groan, but thought her mother would get angry if she did. So Erwin grabbed her book bag and head up to her stairs to work on physics homework. After pulling out the twenty question homework, Erwin regretted having been too excited about the gunnery practice; she didn't or couldn't pay attention to Mr. Gauss's lecture.

Sighing as she opened her book to look for the solutions to the problems, she began to think about what would happen if her school got to the national finals. She knew that the last four teams standing will have the option to field thirty tanks, and since it would be for two battles, those tanks would have to be very good.

She was working on the second problem, glad the book had most of the information she needed, when she began to debate what tanks she would want on the team, to add to the roster. She thought a couple of T-34/85s or Comet tanks would do nicely for the scouting element, while they would definitely need a couple of heavy hitters like Tigers or IS-2 tanks.

But when she began to work on the third problem, she began to doubt the likelihood of them winning a match if a team had some monster like the Maus, a T95 GMC, or something similar to that. Their armor would be so thick that most of the team's tanks wouldn't be able to dent their armor. They would need ever increasing firepower to challenge tanks like that.

She shook the thoughts about the nationals and the monster tanks as she continued to plow through her physics homework. She finished an hour later, and put the book and papers away. She turned her computer on, as she wanted to face chat with her friends back at Ooarai.

She saw that her friend Takako Suzuki, more commonly known as Caesar, was online. She sent her a invite to chat, and a moment later the dark brown hair and eyed girl was staring at Erwin.

"Erwin!" Caesar exclaimed loudly. "It's good to hear from you! How is it in America?" Erwin smiled.

"It is mostly good, though some of the people here suck," Erwin said. "But at least they have tankery, so I am happy." Caesar smiled at the mention of tankery.

"I am glad you mention that, because Ooarai is having a massive influx in people participating in the tankery class," Caesar said. "We don't have the tanks at the moment, though Miho and the class president have promised we will get more tanks."

"That's good to hear," Erwin said. "At Raven's Peak, we have fifteen tanks, and they are pretty good."

"Ah, that outnumbers out then, but Ooarai doesn't need numbers, we have awesome tactics and impressive teamwork," Caesar said. "Though, by any chance, what tanks do you have?" Erwin thought it wouldn't hurt anyone if she said anything.

"Just promise you won't put this on your blog?" Erwin asked, just in case Erika became enraged that she told someone outside the school about their team's tanks. Caesar nodded.

"Yeah sure, a secret just between the two of us." Caesar said. Erwin then told her of the tanks, waiting until the end to tell Caesar about the ISU-152. She watched as Caesar spit her soft drink at the mention of the ISU-152.

"Seriously, you got one of them?" Caesar gasped after a while. "Where did you get one?" Erwin shrugged.

"We were supposed to use a Semovente 90/53, but due to complications and my friend Henrietta's father's obsession with rare tanks, we got an ISU-152." Caesar shook her head.

"Wow, just warn us if you guys get to the international championships," Caesar said. She was about to speak when Erwin heard her mother calling her downstairs.

"Hey Caesar, I got to go," Erwin said. "But when you guys start your nationals, in proelio vincite (conquer the battlefield)!"

"Yeah, see you later Field Marshall," Caesar said, poking fun at Erwin's nickname. Erwin chuckled and disconnected, heading downstairs to see her mother had made salmon and rice for dinner. Erwin sat down at the table, and began to eat when he mother looked over at her.

"Riko, are you still mad at me for having you move here?" her mother asked. Erwin stopped eating to consider the question. She wasn't mad at her mother per say, maybe annoyed that she couldn't see her old friends except through a computer screen, but she did make some friends here.

"Why do you ask?" Erwin asked. She saw her mother sigh.

"Because we never really talked since getting here," her mother said. "I know we hadn't talked much when you were at Ooarai, but still…" Erwin's mother seemed to stop mid-sentence, unsure of how to explain.

"It's alright," Erwin said, trying to end this conversation quickly; she didn't like conversations like this one. "I have new friends here and I can still chat with my old friends. But you are often at work even when I got back from school."

Her mother sighed, returning her attention to dinner.

"I suppose you are right," Erwin's mother said. They ate in relative silence throughout the rest of dinner, and when they were done, Erwin headed back upstairs to play a computer of documentaries while she down on the problem on how to improve the ISU-152's rate of fire.

* * *

><p>Henrietta was sitting in her large room, busy assembling another model tank, this one a 132 scale model of a Russian T-62 MBT. She had finished her homework an hour ago, and dinner wasn't going to be for another hour, so she spent that time working on completing her model.

She sighed as applied the paint to the gun barrel, thinking about how likely the odds were of Raven's Peak making it to the finals. She knew there were thirty two teams, due to Alaska and Hawaii already exempted from most national sports, and several states lacked the facilities or the funding to partake in the sport.

She did mental calculations, she knew that to get to the final match, they would need to win four battles, and to win they need to win the fifth and final match. Henrietta knew then the odds of them making it to the finals increased as they progressed, but so too did the oppositions. But in battle, it was fifty-fifty, with the course of the battle to decide the winner.

Henrietta however noted that in the US, gambling was a major indicator of a winner as she put aside the barrel to dry. She went to her computer and went to see if there were any sites online to see if there were any favorites to win.

She browsed a couple of sites, until she found one that listed all the schools involved. She scrolled down and read the pre-summary reports on the schools, and the odds were based on how much the school received in funds. She quickly scrolled top to bottom, and she felt a bit discouraged by the results.

Raven's Peak was listed in the middle to win, with nothing to go on beside the school budget. However, Henrietta noted that the biggest contenders to win were a school just outside of Fort Knox Kentucky, a high school in Texas, and finally another high school in Maryland. Henrietta shook her head, and knew that the school near Fort Knox would be an issue, as Fort Knox was the US army's training ground for tankers, and the school would've easily hired the best tank instructors in the country.

Closing the website, she could hear her father coming into the kitchen and headed downstairs to see him. She walked into the kitchen, and saw her father with a meal from a Chinese takeout.

"Hello father," Henrietta said. "How are you doing?" She grabbed a couple of napkins and forks and set them on the table. She heard her father grunt.

"Well, to be honest, pretty shitty," he said. "I had to cancel a four year contract with an oil company after they went under after allegations of using child labor, and also regarding my work on the E-100, the turret is being held up due to a steel shortage at the foundry. So there is that."

Henrietta could tell her father was tired, and for a couple of years she wondered why he kept both his passion for building the E-100 and being the CEO of MTS. His job seemed to leave him friendless and having to deal with constant ridicule from the media, and his passion, no, obsession with the E-100 made him irritable and more often than not frustrated at the progress.

"But still, my problems are first world problems," he said, handing Henrietta her meal, which was sweet and sour chicken. "But how was your day, enjoyed the ISU-152?" She nodded.

"Yes, we practice with the gunnery, and while we managed to keep the shots on target, we could only muster one round a minute," she said, in between bites.

"Yeah, that was a problem with the tank; a slow rate of fire," her father said. "But I guess that a good crew can compensate for that problem. Talking about crews, how are you friends treating you?" Henrietta would usually avoid the question, considering how others in the past treated her due to her father's job. But she didn't need to worry, as for once she wasn't treated like crap.

"Pretty good, Erwin is a good friend, Katie is cordial, and I don't have an opinion on Joan and Christine, they kind of just hang with Katie."

"I see," her father said, eating a bit of the pork fried rice. "That's an improvement from last year, I am glad to hear that." He was about to speak when his phone went off. He checked the caller ID, and sighed. "I have to take this, and I probably have to leave again."

He walked off, leaving Henrietta alone in the kitchen, left to eat her meal in peace. She thought about the upcoming practices and the first tank battle they would have.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: Alright, a shorter chapter than usual, but the next chapter will have the first tank battle! So there is that, now onto the reviews!<strong>

**-Severstal: About the experience of KMM, they won the Japanese nationals, what was it, 6 or 7 times in a row before Miho sacrificed her tank to save a drowning crew, so they must have experience. And also, they were fighting against a wild card team that was Ooarai, who didn't follow any one doctrine; they did what made sense to them in the field. So it depends on the perspective; even great teams have shitty days.**

**About the 128 vs 150mm cannon, that is true, the 128mm has high velocities and better anti-armor performance than the 150mm cannon. But when people talk about the E-100, the 150mm crops up time and time again, and it makes the E-100 a bit special. But more on that much later.**

**Also, thanks for the information about the shells; I generally think of AP shells as being the US standard of shells, being 'shot', and my knowledge of APHE is limited. If you have any links to good sites for descriptions of tank shells, that would be nice.**

**-Mxthomas: The Marder series of TDs were successful due to being able to exploit first shot advantage, and most of the time, it was 5 on 5, where the Shermans wouldn't have the time to truly react to the situation. In larger scale battles though, the opposite held true; the Marders (and German tanks in general) got overwhelmed and knocked out or abandoned. **

**-Theralion: About Erwin, she is a history nut, but she is a teenager, and thus she isn't going to be immune to the nature of high school life. Her cannon life wasn't much, so I decided to elaborate on her life, and the reason I picked Erwin is because 1) she is iconic and 2) there is a large degree of flexibility to do what I want within reason.**

**Also, thanks for pointing out my grammar mistakes. Some of them are my thinking I wrote it correctly, and thus gloss over the mistakes. I know it is annoying to read, but even the best of writers make mistakes, and I am not one of the best. Though thanks for pointing them out.**

**And as always, thanks for reading and please follow, favorite, and review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Crumbling plans

* * *

><p>Erwin was walking with Katie and Henrietta, excited for the first battle in the ISU-152. She was going over the possible areas of fighting, the possible outcomes of the battle, and how many tanks her crew would knock out.<p>

"Erwin, calm down," Katie muttered. "It's like you are on meth."

"I'm not!" Erwin snapped. "What's wrong with me being excited for the battle?"

"Er, maybe because you are never this excited?" Henrietta offered. "Seriously, most of the time you sit in class, bored out of your mind, and you never talk with anyone other than the two of us, Joan, and Christine."

Erwin was about to argue when she stopped to think about it. She really didn't interact with anyone outside tankery, and through most of the classes she was bored to tears. She sighed, trying to calm down.

"Fine, fine, you've made your point," Erwin said. "But still, the first battle!"

As they walked into the hangar, they saw Erika leaning on a door frame, yawning.

"Hello Erika," Katie said. Erika merely raised her hand, acknowledging them. "Um, are you okay?"

"I have been up since two in the morning," muttered Erika. "I got woke up in the morning due to a police raid across the street." She narrowed her eyes, looking out of the hangar. "Damn drug fueled idiots, ruining my sleep."

Erwin and the others slowly walked away from Erika, who continued to rant to herself about the 'drug fueled idiots'.

"Is she like this when she doesn't get sleep?" Katie asked Erwin.

"I don't know, you would have to ask someone who knows her well."

"But I thought you guys knew each other," Katie countered.

"Well, in the sense we knew of each other in the tournament," Erwin parried. "I don't know what she is normally like." They headed to their ISU-152, and saw Joan and Christine were already there, with Christine moaning as she leaned against the tank.

"I hope like hell we won't need to fire a lot of shells," Christine mumbled. "I don't think I could handle it."

"C'mon," Joan said. "Gym wasn't that bad."

"But you weren't the one having to carry all the equipment into the gym," Christine said. "Why did they have to choose today to be the day they decided to clean the gym floors?"

"Probably because those floors were terribly dirty," Joan said. "Hi Erwin, Katie, Henrietta, sorry in advance if Christine is in full whine mood today."

"We heard already," Erwin said. "So no need to apologize. And Christine, we shouldn't need to fire our cannon that often, we have teammates to help out."

"Thank god," Christine said. "So, who are we going up against today?" Erwin shrugged, thinking they probably would split the teams in half. But before she could answer Christine the bell rung and Erika and Sgt. Harper walked to the front of the hangar.

"Alright everyone," Sgt. Harper began. "We are about to begin the first team battle. The teams will be divided into two groups, one led by Riko, and the other will be led by Jackie. Each will command their own group, plus members from the scout group."

Erwin nodded, and silently she cursed her luck; she didn't know if the Pak-40s on the Marders or the 76mm cannons on the SU-76s would do much against the heavier armored vehicles, but too late to dwell on that. She nodded.

"Sarah, due to making things fair, you won't be partaking in this battle," Erika said. Sarah's Chaffee crew sighed; apparently they wanted in on the fun. "Now then, the rules. First, you aren't to leave the protection of your tank. Second, once you are knocked out, you can't contact your team other than to report you are knocked out. Finally, once a tank is knocked out, cease firing on said tank."

Everyone nodded, and soon Erika and Sgt. Harper gave them the order to mount. Erwin, Henrietta, Katie, Joan, and Christine mounted the ISU-152 through the crew hatch in the back and assumed their positions. Erwin got situated when the tanks began to roll out of the hangar, and they began the slow ride to the battlefield, where Erwin looked in glee at the coming battle.

* * *

><p>After finally arriving at the battlefield, Erwin and Jackie were both given maps to begin planning their battle plan. Erwin had walked over to the commanders of her team's tanks and laid the map out on the hull of a Su-76.<p>

"Alright guys," Erwin began. "This is the map of the battlefield."

The field they were going to engage on was mostly flat, with only three areas of major note. The first area was the forest that very thick with large trees and was overall a mud pit. The forest was on the western boundary of the battlefield, but it had an outcropping that cover a bit of the southern boundary.

The second area was a tiny mock up village that was situated on a hill overlooking most of the battlefield, and to make matters worse it was dead center of the map. At the base of the hill on both the south and north was a river, with only two bridges to get to the hill.

The final area of note was large grain field that covered most of the eastern side and the north. It was the lowest part of the battlefield, and even with the tall grains, if there was anyone in the village they would be spotted.

Erwin sighed; this map was made to make her life hell. She looked over to the commanders after explaining the terrain features.

"So that is the map, and while Jackie's team advantage of heavily armored tanks and rotating turrets, we can't go on the offensive," Erwin said. "If we want a chance of victory, we need to choose our field of battle."

"I say we take the village," Cheryl, the commander of a tetrarch tank, suggest. "Me and Catherine in the Bt-7 can rush in and hold it until you and the others arrive."

"Yes, we can also alert you of any activity that Jackie's team is doing," Catherine said. "That hill will give us a commanding view of the battlefield."

Erwin pinched the bridge of her nose; that was what the other light tanks on the enemy team were probably thinking.

"But that is probably what the other team is thinking," Vera noted, sparing Erwin the need to explain. "Also, what do we do once we take the village? They will then take their time and think of a way to get around us."

Erwin paused, thinking about Vera's statement. If taking the village meant revealing their position, then it would work in reverse. She chuckled.

"Alright, we won't take the village," Erwin said. "However, that leaves the grain field and the forest. Both are pretty bad as the field lacks cover and the forest will make us force our path of travel."

She saw the commanders looking at one another, trying to think of a way around this obstacle. Erwin thought about what would be the best approach when Astrid smiled.

"Let's take the forest," Astrid suggested. We can use the tree line to conceal our movement, but if Jackie's teams goes for the village, then we can fire upon them."

"But what if they go through the woods?" questioned Cheryl. "Most of our tanks lack turrets, and they have tanks with short barrels that can traverse despite the trees. If we get into an engagement there we will be slaughtered."

"That's true," Erwin said. "However, can I ask you to do something rather brash?" She saw Cheryl and Catherine pale a little.

"How brash are we talking Erwin?" Cheryl asked. Erwin shrugged.

"Brash in the sense that you are going to have to kite the enemy," Erwin said. "But only for a short time, to let us get into position. If possible, lure them to the hill."

She saw Catherine and Cheryl look at each other, wondering why they got the short straws when it came to tank selection. But they nodded solemnly.

"Alright, but promise us if we get knocked out you will knock out Jackie's tank," Cheryl said.

"Yeah, though if things go to plan, you won't have to be knocked out," Erwin said. "But now onto target prioritization. Astrid and Vera, focus on the Matilda tanks and perhaps the T14 heavy tanks. Ana and Irene, the T14s and the enemy scout tanks are yours to take on. Cheryl and Catherine, only the scout tanks for you guys, your cannons are pretty weak. My crew will handle the Churchill."

"Alright," came the response of the other commanders. Erwin smiled.

"here is the plan overall, Catherine's and Cheryl's tanks will attract the enemy away from the woods and to the village, while we take ambush positions in the forest. When the enemy takes the village, hit them with everything we got, alright?"

"AYE!" Erwin smiled; this was going to be a good fight, only if Jackie didn't do anything to ruin the plan. At the moment, the planning phase was ended by Erika telling Erwin to get the crews into position and to prepare for the start of battle. The commanders rushed off and Erwin jumped back into the ISU-152.

"So, what is the plan?" Christine asked.

"Get into the woods, wait for the enemy to take the village, then fire lots of shells at them," Erwin simplified the plan. Christine sigh.

"Hope by lots of shells you mean we get to fire slowly and the others fire a barrage of shells," Christine muttered. Joan smacked her.

"Quit whining, your arms should've started to stop aching," Joan said. Christine was about to jab back but Erwin interrupted the two of them.

"Just drop it," Erwin said to Christine. "I don't need a fight in the tank, it's too damn small for one." Erwin then turned to Henrietta.

"Henrietta, take us to grid E8, and lead the convoy, let's use our heavy armor to prevent any surprises."

"Yes Erwin," Henrietta said. She began to manipulate the controls, and the ISU-152 lurched forward. After Erwin saw her Tetrarch and BT-7 rush off to head to the village, she checked behind her tank, and saw the SU-76s and the Marder IIIs following shortly behind.

They began down a dirt path that would get them close to where they wanted, and Erwin was thinking everything was going fine until she heard Cheryl over the radio five minutes later.

"Riko, this is Cheryl, we are at the village, but there isn't anyone here," Cheryl said. "Also, we are checking over the grain field, and they aren't there either."

Erwin pulled her map out, and began to look over it, wondering if she missed something. She looked to where Jackie's team was supposed to start, and didn't see anything that stood out. She sighed.

"Alright, thanks for the information, keep us posted about any updates," Erwin said. She then changed her radio frequency to contact the other commanders. "This is Erwin, I got a report from Cheryl, and it appears Jackie isn't heading to the village, so pay attention to your flanks, and alert us if you hear anything out of place."

Erwin then turned her attention back to the map, wondering what the hell Jackie was up to. She suspected that because of the slow speed of her tanks she would make a run for the village so she could react quickly to any threats, but this wasn't the case.

She was thinking of stopping when the ISU-152 was rocked hard by a shell. Erwin checked her periscope, and found Jackie's Churchill was firing on the ISU-152.

"Everyone, Churchill spotted, two o'clock!" Erwin shouted into the radio. "Fire at your discretion!" She turned to Christine. "Load AP Christine!"

Christine nodded, and began the loading process. However, Erwin noted that the Churchill was by itself. She looked around and saw the others forming a line to get a shot at Jackie's Churchill. Astrid's and Vera's Marders III opened fire first, by the AP shells bounced harmlessly off the Churchill's thick armor.

Next came the SU-76s, and they missed the target, hitting the nearby tree. At this time, the Churchill fire again, once again bouncing off the ISU's armor. Erwin began to sense something was wrong when Christine spoke.

"Round's loaded!" Christine yelled. Erwin was about to give the order to fire when she heard one of the Marder's getting knocked out. She turned to the left, and saw the T14s approaching from the tree line, and Erwin cursed. Jackie had used the hill to keep covered from Erwin's scouts.

"Henrietta, get us out of here!" Erwin yelled. "Everyone, get out of the woods! Make use of your speed now and pop smoke!" Erwin then saw the remaining tanks reversing as quickly as they could, and the others were firing madly.

Erwin then saw the Churchill was moving forward, supported by the Matildas and the Scout tanks. Erwin then realized what Jackie's plan was; it was to overwhelm they while their scouts were in the village. Erwin was about to shout orders when she saw Vera's Marder take a hit.

"Are you guys ok?!"Erwin yelled into the radio.

"We're fine!" Vera said. "They just somehow managed to bounce off our hull armor. Erwin, what are we going to do?"

"Get the hell out of the forest!" Erwin said. "Then we try and regroup at the base of the hill, and if need be, take positions up in the village."

"Alright," Vera said. "I will relay that to the others." Erwin punched the side of the compartment.

"Damn it, why did I suggest the forest?" Erwin berated herself. "Why did I have to march us into Jackie's guns?!"

"It wasn't your fault," Katie said. "How the hell should you have known that Jackie was going to take her tanks around the hill, those tanks are slow."

Erwin was about to say something when an idea came to her head.

"Henrietta, how long until we get to the base of the hill?" Erwin asked.

"About a minute, why?" Henrietta asked. Erwin however was looking at Christine and Joan.

"Henrietta, turn us around so were are facing the T14s. Joan, fire at the lead T14, and Christine, load HE next."

"WHAT?!" yelled everyone in the compartment. Erwin nodded.

"Just trust me," Erwin said. Henrietta sighed, and began to turn in place. While that was occurring, Erwin contacted the other tanks.

"Vera, Irene, and Ana, get to the village as fast as you can," Erwin said. "My tank will buy time, and hopefully you guys will be able to support me from the hill."

"Riko, you realize that could result in you getting knocked out?" Vera asked.

"I know, but someone needs to do something unless you guys want to get knocked out," Erwin said.

"Alright then," Vera said. "Vera out." Erwin then saw that the ISU-152 was now facing the brunt of the advancing team.

"Joan, fire when ready," Erwin ordered. Joan took aim at the lead T14, who was trying to fire on the smaller tank destroyers that were trying to make a run for the hill. She aimed at the hull, and fired. The shell exploded out of the cannon, and Erwin watch as it impacted and penetrated the T14.

"Loading HE now!" Christine yelled. Erwin then rubbed her hands as the entire tank force began to aim at the ISU-152.

"Henrietta, begin reversing," Erwin commanded. She watched as the remaining T14 began to seek cover behind the knocked out tank, and the Matilda began to fire rapidly at her thick frontal armor. Erwin then head the breech close.

"Erwin, which tank shall I fire upon?" joan asked.

"Target the Matida tanks, I figure with HE we can knock them out in one shot," Erwin said. She heard Joan muttered something about wishful thinking, and soon Erwin heard the gun roar, and the He shell land between both Matilda tanks, knocking the treads off both.

However, to her dismay, they were still in action, and they kept firing on her. Erwin heard Christine loading another round, but she saw the Chruchill still coming at her, while the light tanks began to speed on ahead, hoping to flank the ISU-152.

"Riko, this is Vera, we are on the hill!" Vera said. "We see you, and while we don't have good shots on the Churchill or the T14, we got shots lined up on the Tetrarch, the BT-7, and both Matildas. We will take care of the lights first, alright?"

"Alright, get them now!" Erwin shouted, the light tanks were nearly on top of her. But soon, she heard the village ridgeline opening up, as the remaining tanks fired a flurry of shells at the Tetrarch tank. Vera's Marder III managed to knock it out with an engine shot.

"Good hit!" Erwin said. "Now focus on the BT-7!" Erwin chuckled as the shells began to pummel the Russian light tank, knocking out its gun out.

"We claim the- damn it, we're knocked out!" Catherine called out. Erwin looked ahead and saw to her surprise the T14 and the Churchill tank were now firing on the ridgeline, knocking out Catherine's BT-7 with a shot to the center hull.

"Shell's loaded!" Christine said.

"Fire already Joan!" Erwin yelled out, and Joan aimed at the T14 before pulling the trigger. Erwin watched the shell travel, and knocked out the T14's track, gun, and badly damaged the frontal armor despite the protective carbon coating applied to the tank. Erwin chuckled.

"Christine, just one more shell, and then we can probably retire for the battle," Erwin said. However, Erwin then saw that the Churchill continued to fire on the ridgeline, and knocked out Vera's Marder III and Ana's SU-76 in rapid succession. She began to panic, and noted that while the bulk of the enemy was out of commission, the Churchill was still a threat, and to make matters worse the driver decided that going head on was a bad idea, so she was now driving at an angel to the ISU-152.

"Henrietta, keep the frontal armor to the Churchill's gun," Erwin said.

"Will due," Henrietta said. She began to turn the chasis of the ISU-152, when Erwin began to hear pings off the side of the armor. She then remembered the Matilda tanks that were still in action despite suffering a mobility hit.

"Crap, is the gun loaded?" Erwin asked. At that moment, Katie closed the breach.

"Gun is ready to fire whenever!" Katie said. Erwin didn't need to tell Joan what to do, and soon the gun was centered on the target. Joan was about the fire the trigger when all of a sudden the entire tank lurched backwards, and the gun went skywards.

Erwin looked to see what caused it, and saw that the ISu-152 was digging into a slope near the river.

"Henrietta, quit reversing!" Erwin yelled. She turned, and saw the Churchill pointing the gun at the driver's hatch. "Crap, forward Henrietta!"

However, Erwin gave the order too late. The Churchill tank fired its gun, and penetrated through the driver's slot. Thankfully, the shell didn't hit Henrietta but merely set off the sensor, indicating that the tank sustained a death blow. Erwin slammed her fist into side of the tank.

"ARGH!" Erwin yelled. "Stupid frickin' river!" Erwin glared at the Churchill, and imagined Jackie was smiling gleefully when all of a sudden there was a large plume of smoke from behind it and the Churchill's flag went upright.

"Huh?" Erwin asked. "Who knocked out the Churchill?"

"We are proper comrades!" yelled Irene into the radio. "We managed to aven- damn it, now we're knocked out!"

"The Matilda's eh?" Erwin said.

"Yep," Irene sighed. "Think that Cheryl's Tetrarch can knock out both Matildas?" Erwin began to giggle. The fact that she was knocked out wasn't a surprise to her; she been knocked out before in battle, but this took the cake. It wasn't due to a Maus, it wasn't due to getting side shot by a Churchill, it was due to a frickin' river. And now here she was, chatting as though she was a mere spectator.

"Um, simply put, hell no," Erwin said. "Unless they get extremely lucky or are at point blank range." She heard Irene chuckle.

"Well, last I saw, Cheryl was heading around the village to surprise the Matildas," Irene said. "But I suppose we have to wait and see what happens now."

Erwin sighed; all she could do now was wait. It was five minutes until she heard that while Cheryl was able to knock out one of the Matilda tanks, the other had managed to turn the turret and knock her out. Erwin wanted to face palm; she had lost because the HE shot that should've knocked out both Matilda only knocked off their tracks and nothing else.

"Alright, final score, Riko's team, 6 kills, Jackie's, 7 kills. Therefore, Jackie's team takes this match," Erika said. "Alright, leave your vehicles, we will let the ARC recovery teams pick up the tanks."

Erwin got out of the crew hatch and looked at the hill that caused the ISU-152 to be defenseless and kicked a bit of the dirt. She saw Jackie shaking her head as she climbed out of the Churchill.

"So Riko, how was the ISU-152?" Jackie asked. Erwin shrugged.

"Did pretty good. Reloads a pain though, and apperantly little hills can render this useless," Erwin said. "What about the Churchill?" Jackie sighed.

"It's too damn slow, I mean, if we were in faster tanks we probably could've knocked you out much earlier," Jackie said. "But that armor is pretty good, so I guess I rather have the armor than the speed."

Erwin shook her head, still not believing that even in a monster such as an ISU-152 that she could still be knocked out. She then began to trek to the coming Duce and a half that was coming to pick the girls up and take them back to the school, wondering how her school would fare in the coming national championships.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: Ah, the battle is over, and I hope it was entertaining. I was thinking of having the action jump around, but it proved too difficult and it became convoluted that it wasn't enjoyable to read. So that partly explains why I was late in publishing this chapter. But onto the reviews!<strong>

**-Jangocommando27: Err, crap, that was a major mistake on my part. Yes, I meant 12 RPM, not 12 RPS. Though imagine a 75mm with 12 RPS, I think the gun barrel would melt in five seconds.**

**-Severstal: hmm, I don't know allthe fine things about tank equipment and what each nation equipped to their tanks as far as sights and optics, so I am assuming that the school did after-market modifications to make the tanks easier to use.**

**As for the characters, I have something planned for Erika, and also she was quite snobbish in the anime, feeling that KMM was thousand fold more superior to Ooarai. And as for Erwin not spouting facts about history, I think that their conversations were exergated, though I could be wrong. Thus I have her more manageable.**

**-Theralion: I kind of agree with your assessment of KMM (or Black Forest, that does sound better now that I say it). Maho is a great leader, but her soldiers can't think for themselves and they can get disorganized in a right hurry. And as Severstal pointed out, they probably won eight years in a row due to superior equipment. But in my story, they are going to get real nasty.**

**As for the championships, here is how they work; there are 32 teams, divided into two regions. This means that at the start of the championship, each region has sixteen teams. When the battles begins, it goes from 16 down to eight, then eight down to four, then four down to two, and two to one, with the winners of each region going head to head to determine the national champions.**

**In regards to the other points, I figure that Erwin's relationship to her mother can't be all angst, and while she may have had better friends at Ooarai, her friends at Raven's Peak are going to get some attention away from the tanks. Henrietta's father's business transactions and the general business he deals in makes people generally not trust Henrietta, because 'like father like daughter' logic. So while people who don't know her father would treat her well, those that do judge her base on her father. What relevance his business has on the storyline is still up in the air, but it can be an interesting perspective to go into.**

**-Mxthomas: the Marder III is a decent tank destroyer, not as good as say the M18, the M10, or even the M36 Jackson, but better than the Hetzer and the Zis-30. Also, the ISU-152 doesn't use the BL-10, later versions did, but in this story, the ISU-152 uses the Ml-20s howitzer. It is still a nuke, but just not as nuclear as the BL-10.**

**As always guys, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Blackmail

* * *

><p>Erwin was waiting for the bus in the cold nip of the late September air. Fall had arrived, weeks after the disastrous first practice battle, with one held every weekend after. So far it had been a tug of war so to speak, with Erwin claiming a victory only to lose next week to Jackie. Both were competent commanders, and it was reflected by the constantly close battles. So far Jackie had won three battles, while Erwin tied her up with last week's victory.<p>

She saw Erich approaching and she quickly patted herself down, trying to get the wrinkles out of her clothes. He chuckled as he watched her try to act completely composed when she got done.

"Erwin, you ain't fooling anyone by standing at attention," Erich chuckled. "You're trying to impress me or something?"

"No, I just don't want people getting the impression I am messing, that's all," Erwin said. She usually have these shorts chats with Erich in the morning, but they weren't anything she looked forward to.

"I see," Erich said. "But who is going to judge you at here at this time of day?" Erwin sighed, why did he find a hole in her argument?

"Well, admittedly no one," Erwin conceded. "However, that doesn't excuse oneself from looking proper; soldiers must always have their uniforms in top order unless they are in the field." Erich shook his head.

"Yeah, but you aren't a soldier, and you aren't wearing a uniform of any kind. You are a high school student wearing casual clothing and it's god damn early. So that isn't a likely excuse either."

"Just shut up," Erwin muttered, looking away from him, annoyed he got the better of her. The bus arrived and Erwin quickly headed to where Katie was sitting, listening to her IPod.

"Hi Erwin, what's up?" Katie asked. Erwin shrugged as she sat down.

"I got out logic by Erich," Erwin said. "So, what is the plan for today; lose our mind in mindless classes and then enjoy JROTC and tankery?"

"Pretty much," Katie agreed. "Though I want to talk to you later about something with the others." Erwin looked at Katie, who was twiddling with her thumbs.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Erwin asked. Katie shook her head.

"Not telling until the others are there," she said, causing Erwin to feel irked. She sighed and leaned back in the bus seats, watching the houses and cars pass by her window. She had to admit, but living on the land was certain in some ways better than living on a ship. For one thing she didn't have to walk everywhere, and for another she didn't need to get waterproof everything. But it wasn't Ooarai, it didn't have her friends from last year, and it didn't have the customs that she was used to.

But as she was beginning to reminisce about her time on the Ooarai, the bus had arrived at Raven's Peak, and Erwin got off and headed to her locker. She sighed as she entered the building, and she had just opened her locker when she felt someone standing behind her. She heard Jacob Austin chuckle.

"Well now, if it ain't the captain of the tankery class?" Jacob sarcastically noted. Erwin turned to him, closing her locker.

"What is it Mr. Austin?" Erwin asked, annoyed that she had to deal with this guy. Thankfully for her, no one had to deal with him as far as she knew during tankery, and thus her interactions with him were at a minimum.

But Jacob glared at Erwin, annoyed with her formality.

"First, it's Jacob, and second, you do realize that your team is at my mercy?" Erwin felt herself wanting to kick him in the balls.

"But hey, I'm a generous guy," Jacob continued, ignoring the death glare from Erwin. "So how about we work something out, hm?" Erwin wanted to tell this guy to go shove a bouncing betty up his ass, or perhaps drink pure alcohol, but she recomposed herself, refusing to get angry at him.

"What do you, 'propose'?" Erwin said, shuddering to herself. Jacob chuckled.

"Now you are getting it," Jacob praised. "Here's the deal; the school dance, which is mandatory for seniors, takes place this Friday. If you don't want any bullshit this weekend during your precious practice, you will go to the dance with me and enjoy my company for the evening."

Erwin felt like someone had just punched her in the gut, and she wanted to bitch slap Jacob for blackmailing her. She couldn't let her team down, but going out with this pig? It went against her ideas of self-centered will. She took a moment, trying to think.

"Can I get back to you later?" Erwin said, disgusted with how she was considering this. Jacob laughed.

"Yeah, you have until the end of school to get back to me, and if I don't get an answer of any kind, I will make the weekend's practice, shall we say, interesting." He smirked before walking away, leaving Erwin to storm off to her first class, wondering how the hell she was going to deal with this.

She entered calculus and sat in her usual spot in the back, fuming quietly to herself. Mr. Gauss was still preparing class, so she contemplated what Jacob could do to ruin practice. He could fuck with the fuel, loosen the bolts on the tracks of any number of the vehicles, he could remove the emergency braking system, and the more she thought about what he could do the more Erwin worried.

Jackie came in and sat next to Erwin. She looked over at Erwin before she spoke.

"So, what has you fired up already?" Jackie asked quietly as class began. Erwin looked at Gauss, but wasn't really paying attention.

"I got ambushed by Jacob Austin," Erwin replied. "He is blackmailing me into going with him to the school dance." Jackie wrote down the notes Gauss was writing down, while holding the conversation.

"Are you kidding me?" Jackie said. "What does he have on you?" Erwin looked at Jackie, and wondered if she would try anything like that in the future. But she shook the notion, Jackie may have been her chief rival in tankery, but still, she had standard.

"He's threatening to do something during the practice session this weekend," Erwin said. "That is if I don't go with him."

Jackie shook her head.

"What the hell, are you kidding me?"

"Afraid I am not," Erwin replied. "So, what do you think I should do?" Jackie shrugged.

"I don't have a fucking clue as to what to do. I would normally tell him to piss off, but since he is maintaining our vehicles, ugh, why must he be the captain of the Automotive Maintenance class?"

Erwin sighed, knowing she wouldn't get an answer from Jackie. She hoped that whatever Katie wanted to talk about wouldn't take long, as she needed to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>It was now fifth period, and Erwin was busy working with Henrietta and Katie in JROTC. They were organizing the store room that the JROTC had, making sure that the drill rifles were clean and in order, that the equipment they used during their fitness training was in good condition, and that the extra uniforms were organized and clean.<p>

"So, let me get this straight; you have until the end of the day to give Jacob an answer?" Katie said. "Damn it, that isn't good." Erwin gritted her teeth.

"You think I didn't know that?" Erwin seethed. "So what should I do about it?" Henrietta was busy getting the various shoes in order, polishing them and putting them in a box when she replied.

"Tell him no; we can deal with whatever he throws our way," Henrietta said quietly. "If he tampers with our fuel, he is endangering our lives. Same thing with half the fears you mentioned he might try and pull. He wouldn't be so stupid and risk punishment from the law."

"I concur," Katie said. "I mean, he is a bastard for trying to force his way on you, but he can't do even half the things you fear; he would be facing legal repercussions rather than punishment from the school. So I guess you can tell him to go fuck himself."

Erwin thought about what they said and cheered up. If he couldn't go through with his threat, than what is the worse he can do; be angry at her?

"I guess it took you guys to just calm me down," Erwin muttered. "Thanks."

"No problem," Henrietta said. She put another box of shoes aside. "So, who are you guys taking to the dance?" Erwin then realized that she was going to have to go, and worse still, she had no one to go with.

"Um, I don't know," Erwin admitted. She looked over at Katie and remembered she wanted to talk with her and the others. "So what about you Katie, or is it too early to implore."

Katie chuckled.

"Well, I learned that Christine and Joan aren't in school today, both came down with a stomach flu, so might as well talk about it," Katie said. "I was thinking of asking Erich Schwarz."

Erwin, who was busy organizing the rifles, nearly dropped the rifle she was holding in shock.

"Erich, as in the Erich I hang out with in the morning?" Erwin asked. Katie nodded.

"Well, he is pretty cool," Katie said. "But I wanted your opinion on him. I mean I know you two talk, but isn't just small talk? So I wouldn't be overstepping you would I?"

Erwin shrugged; that all they were to her anyway, just idle chat to keep from being bored in the mornings. She didn't think she had any feelings for Erich anyway, so no harm in that fashion, right?

"I don't care," Erwin said. "I mean, all we do is small talk just as you say. And he is a nice guy, though make sure whatever you say you don't make any logical mistakes, as he will point them out as I found out."

Henrietta nodded.

"I don't know him that well anyway. I mean you could do worse I suppose, like Jacob for instance, but I don't know, ask him, what harm could come from it?"

Katie smiled at the general approval from her friends.

"Alright, I will ask him after this class is over," Katie declared. "But what about you two, you guys will need to get some dates for the dance." Henrietta frowned.

"I haven't a clue as to who I am going to ask to the dance," Henrietta stated. "But sadly most of the people I would ask already have dates." Erwin looked at Henrietta, puzzled by her choice of 'people' over 'guys', 'men', or even 'boys'. Erwin shrugged, perhaps she was reading too much into it.

"Well, I suppose whatever I do, I am not going with that prick Jacob Austin," Erwin said. "But I don't have anyone I am that interested in." Henrietta and Katie nodded.

"That's a bummer, but I guess it can't be helped," Katie said. "I suppose if you two don't have dates you two could go just to avoid the awkward situation of going alone."

Erwin looked over at henrietta, who was trying horribly to hide a blush. Erwin had to admit she was blushing; imagine the amount of gossip that would be going on if they went together? But she sighed.

"Look, we have a couple of minutes before class is up, so let's finish so we head to tankery," Erwin said. The other two nodded. They finished their task and as the bell rang, they head off, with Katie being the exception, to tankery. Erwin was glad that day was nearly over and that tankery would hopefully bring some excitement today.

But as Erwin walked into the tank hangar, she saw both Erika and Sgt. Harper walking up to her.

"Riko, a word," Sgt. Harper said curtly. Erwin looked at Henrietta, who shrugged in confusion. Sighing, Erwin followed Sgt. Harper and Erika into the little office that the two would use from time to time.

"Have a seat Riko," Harper said. Erwin sat down, confused why she was being called in. Harper saw this and pinched his nose. "Well Riko, we learned of your bind, and to say that you are screwed is putting it mildly."

"What?" Erwin said, wondering how the two learned of Austin's blackmail. "How exactly…"

"Well, for one, we got told by the school's superintendent that there was a mandatory staff meeting soon, thought the exact day was to be determined," Erika began. "And second, Jackie told us of what the asshat-" "Language Erika," Harper said quietly. "-said to you earlier."

Erwin saw that they both looked like they wanted to punch someone really fucking hard.

"So why are you telling me this?" Erwin asked, and she began to grip her jacket tightly. Erika sighed.

"It appears that Jacob's, for the lack of a better term, blackmail involved using staff meetings to prevent any practice sessions from occurring," Erika explained. "So if you don't go with him…"

"You guys get stuck in mandatory staff meetings," Erwin finished for her. "Are you two seriously telling me I have to go to the dance with that pig?"

"I am not telling you that," Erika said. "However, I am telling you what he is up to. If you want my advice, go to the dance with him, and if he does anything funny, kick him in the balls." Harper face palmed.

"You can't instruct students to use violence against one another," harper said. "However, I unofficially agree with her. If you refuse the pig, he can keep asking his father to make our lives hellish to prevent the team from practicing."

Erwin wanted to scream in annoyance; why was this even happening?!

"But if it works once, won't he keep doing this to me?" Erwin said. Erika tapped her finger on the desk.

"Well, in the future, keep a recorder on hand and travel with your friends," Erika said. "He got lucky this time because you had no way to verify your story and you didn't go straight to someone to report him for black mailing you. But hopeful there won't be a next time."

Erwin wanted to scream at them, but knew that she was right; without proof, it would look like she was trying to smear the superintendent's son, which would only serve to make her look bad.

"Very well," Erwin said. "Is there anything else I need to know?" Harper nodded, and smiled a little.

"Yes, due to the approaching national tank battles, we have contacted a school in Oregon, Salem High, to arrange a two day tank battle, to get the team working as one. We plan to have the battle in two weeks, and they are coming to us. So we need this weekend's practice to go off without a hitch."

Erwin groaned; this was why both Erika and Harper were really wanting her to accept the pig's black mail. She nodded curtly, and made a mental note to get them later for this. Harper nodded, and they left the office, leaving Erwin to curse her luck.

She walked up to the ISU-152, where she saw Joan and Christine trying to cheer up Katie, and Henrietta was looking on in confusion.

"Um, what did I miss?" Erwin asked. Joan looked at her before answering.

"Well, Katie asked out Erich, only to get denied," Joan put it bluntly. She looked back at Katie, who was still looking sad. "C'mon Katie, you still have a week before the dance, I am certain we can find someone for you to go to the dance with."

Katie glared at Joan, before she looked at Erwin.

"Well, at least you got your date figured out Erwin," Katie said rudely. Erwin raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Erwin asked. Then it clicked. "Oh fuck my life…" The others looked at Erwin confused now.

"What?" Katie asked. "Aren't you going to blow Austin off and to hell with his blackmail, and probably accept Erich's invitation to the dance?" Erwin shook her head.

"No, because Austin's black mail is involving our instructors and our practice," Erwin began to explain. "I have to accept it, as next weekend we are going up against Salem High in a friendly tank battle, and we need to practice this weekend."

Katie paled, Joan and Christine winced, and Henrietta groaned. They all gave Erwin sympathic looks.

"I'm sorry," muttered Katie. "It's just that I wanted to date Erich and…" Erwin stopped her.

"It's ok, I will tell him my situation and maybe you can go out with him to the dance," Erwin said. "Besides, I have to deal with Jacob Austin first." The others nodded, and they quietly assembled into the ISU-152 to begin the lesson for the day.

* * *

><p>Before arriving on the firing land, Erwin, even if she didn't have to accept Austin's blackmail offer, would've said that lesson was the worst lesson, scratch that, worst <em>experience <em>ever. It began simple enough, going to the firing lane; fire a few shells, than drive back. Except today had to be the day of utter hell.

First, as they were driving out of the hangar, Jackie's Churchill had an engine back fire, throwing smoke and quickly filling the hangar with smoke. This caused Henrietta to crash into one of the matilda tanks. Erwin thought nothing much of this, as it didn't result in any injury in anyone.

Following that, on the way to the firing lane, the dirt road they were on decided today was the day it would collapse under the ISU-152. Everyone in the tight fighting compartment was thrown out of their seat as the ISU-152 tilted onto its side, with Christine getting the worst of it, as one of the massive shells landed on her belly.

They were able to right the tank without calling the recovery team, by attaching robes onto the Churchill and Matilda tanks, and pulling the ISU-152 to level out. Erwin thanked Jackie and her team for their efforts, and they got onto the firing lane, where everything should've been just fine. But Erwin's luck had to get worse.

"Christine, load HE," Erwin ordered. Christine nodded. "Joan, target 800 meters, fire once shell has been loaded."

"Aye," both of them said. Erwin sighed; she wasn't in the mood for anything more to go wrong. Christine quickly loaded the shell and then the powder charge, making Erwin glad that the practice and the combat training sessions were paying off. She then turned to Joan, who was aiming the cannon. She was about to talk with Katie when Christine abruptly got up.

"Christine, what's wrong?" Erwin asked. Christine gritted her teeth, as she frantically tried to straighten her right leg.

"Fucking leg cramp!" Christine spluttered. Erwin was about to tell her to take a break when Joan pulled the trigger. The tank rocked, and Christine, due to her being up, was thrown into the back of the compartment, slamming her head on the back wall.

"Christine!" Erwin said, leaping out of her seat, checking on the rather unlucky copper hair girl. Joan and the other turned, and saw Christine was laying on the floor of the compartment, her hand cradling her head.

"Ow, ow, ow," winced Christine. She brought her hand and looked at it, seeing a bit of dark blood on it. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" Erwin saw this and quickly gave her jacket to the copper hair girl to put on the wound.

"Joan, Katie, help me get Christine out of the tank," Erwin ordered. She opened the back hatch, and quickly crawled out, turning around to grab ahold of Christine by the shoulders. "Come on, let's get you to the nurse's office."

"Ow, this fucking hurts," Christine whined, but Erwin knew that she was in justifiably amounts of pain. She saw Joan and Katie jump onto the ground, and Erwin gently lowered Christine towards them. At this time, both Erika and Sgt. Harper were running up to the them, wondering just what happened.

"Oi, what happened?" Erika snapped out. Erwin glared at her before answering.

"Christine got a leg cramp, and due to bad timing whilst trying to lose the cramp, she was slammed into the back of the compartment when the cannon was fired." Erika sighed.

"Very well. Riko, take Christine to the jeep and have the driver take you two to the nurse's office." Erwin nodded, and she helped Christine walk to the jeep, where she mentally swore to make Erika's life as hellish as possible, as Jacob was lounging in the jeep, reading a magazine.

"Well, well, if it isn't my date to the dance," Jacob said with a shit eating grin on his face. "How might I be of assistance to you now?" Erwin glared at him.

"My friend here has a head injury and needs to get to the nurse's office ASAP," Erwin said, putting Christine into the jeep. Jacob chuckled.

"I've seen worse, but whatever," he said. "Now, when I get done with taking you two the nurse, what is going to be my compensation?" Erwin tightened her fist, taking a seat in the jeep.

"How about I don't smash your balls after the dance?" Erwin said, her eyes on fire at the sheer audacity of the prick in front of her. He laughed as he began to drive.

"Oh, while that would be interesting to see you try, that isn't a fair deal," Jacob muttered. "But tell you what, I'll write this off as part of an agreement to you going to the dance with me, as you kindly gave your answer."

Erwin wanted to tear her hair out at how much of an asshole he was being. She hated his company, and she was going to have to spend an entire dance with him? She wished the drinking age in America was 18, so she could get drunk afterwards.

"Speaking of the dance, where do you live, so I can pick you up Riko?" Jacob began. Erwin felt herself wanting to bash his skull in.

"Hell no, you aren't going to know where I live," Erwin stated with enough conviction to make even the hardest and densest of men realize she wasn't going to give any ground. "I will have a friend take me to the dance. Also, if you dare try to grope me, I don't care if your father is the super intendant, I will break your hands."

Jacob sighed.

"My, aren't you no fun," Jacob said. "So, finally tally of this deal; I take your friend here to the nurse's office, I don't do anything funny, and in return you are my date to the dance." Erwin sighed.

"Fine, deal," Erwin said. And she hung her head down, just wishing the day would be over. She closed her eyes and tuned out all the noise, falling into a period of peace.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I'm so SORRY! I had my worst case of writer's block ever, and I think this chapter reflects on that. However, we got some none-tank development here, and I figure this is a nice (or bad, depending on your point of view) of showing how much of a dick Jacob Austin is.<strong>

**As for the reviews and all the people who have favorite and followed the story, thank you! However, since it has been a month since I last updated, I kind of forgotten the reviews, and I am having things in my life where I want to tear my hair out in frustration. But that said, I thank everyone who has been patient!**

**Next chapter will focus on the dance and the weekend practice, so there's that to look forward to. As always guys, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Of Balls and Battles

* * *

><p>"You guys realize that these dresses are probably only going to be worn for this one dance?" said an exasperated Erwin, who had been dragged along by Jackie, Christine, and Joan as they were looking for dresses a few hours before the ball.<p>

"Yeah, so?" Joan asked. Erwin pointed to the price tag for the dress that Joan was holding up.

"It costs over three hundred dollars!" Erwin screeched. "That is over-spending on a one time affair!" Joan shrugged.

"Please, I spent three hundred dollars on a pair of shoes once," Joan said. Erwin's mouth opened for a moment, before she shook her head and closed it.

"Screw it, I can't convince you guys. At least I got what I am wearing to the ball under control," Erwin said. Katie raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, let me guess, it is an officer's uniform that probably make you target supreme for ridicule?" asked Katie. "Erwin, just once act like a normal girl and get a dress."

Erwin swore in her native Japanese before turning to Katie.

"I'm sorry, but at least they are comfortable and don't have any eye candy for my ass of a date," Erwin pointed out. Katie sighed.

"I forgot you have to go with Austin," Katie said. "Then might I suggest one of those, what are they called, jack boots? They look like they hurt like hell if on the receiving end."

Erwin chuckled, remembering how on the first day she stomped on a jerk's foot.

"They are part of the uniform," Erwin said. "But I digress. So who are your guys' dates?" Katie smiled.

"Well, thanks to you, Erich has agreed to go to the dance with me, albeit grudgingly. I think Joan is going out with some guy on the football team, right?" Joan nodded. "And Christine, who are you going with?"

Christine sighed.

"My cousin," said Christine annoyed. "My father insisted I go with my super responsible cousin, to make sure 'nothing funny' happens. I wonder how my father will act when I get a boyfriend."

Erwin shrugged, not knowing if she had it worse that Christine as far as the dance was concerned. She sighed and sat down on a bench, waiting for the others to get down picking out their dresses. As she waited, she decided to read a book on tank tactics.

She had to admit that despite her experience in tankery, Jackie was still able to get the upper hand on her. She figured it was because while Erwin had read more books on military strategy, her leadership skills were shoddy on the team levels. She didn't have experience leading a team; only experience commanding a tank.

She had gotten past the first three chapters when Katie and the others had their dresses. Erwin was thankful as they went to make their purchases, and saw that each had spent over three hundred dollars on their dress. She mentally noted never to go shopping with them, _ever. _

They headed to Katie's car, a navy blue Honda Civic, when Erwin saw that the time was six o'clock, just two hours before the ball. She sighed; tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>"C'mon Erwin, we got to go," Henrietta said calmly through the door. "We don't want to be late if we don't want any funny business going on during practice."<p>

Erwin was looking at herself in the mirror, glad that she had the uniform in mind. It was modeled after a German's officer uniform, with a tight formed collar and very professional look to the uniform. It was composed of a white jacket with black slacks and jackboots, with no medals or ribbons. She looked good in her mind, but she was certain it would piss Austin off.

"That's the goal," Erwin muttered to herself. She left the peak cap at home, and went to the door. As she walked out, she looked at Henrietta. She was wearing a brown shirt with a yellow floral-patterned skirt, with a white rose in her hair.

"You look good Henrietta," Erwin pointed out. "It's conservative, but not in a bad way." She saw Henrietta smile.

"Thank you, and you look good in the uniform too, though I don't think the purpose of the ball is to look like officer; it's to relax, dance, have a good time," Henrietta stated. Erwin shrugged, heading down the stairs.

"Well, I am not going to be enjoying my night's company, that's for sure," Erwin said. Henrietta frowned, but nodded slowly.

"Yeah, spending an evening with Jacob is surely a test of fortitude," Henrietta said. "I am sorry you had to spend the evening with him." Erwin smiled at Henrietta.

"Thanks," Erwin said. "Now let's go before I lose my nerve and try and come up with a lame excuse not to attend the ball." Erwin and Henrietta walked down the stairs and out the front door, where Henrietta's car was parked. Erwin didn't mind that Henrietta would be driving her to the ball; after all Katie and her date were in the same car as Christine and her date, and Joan was being driven to the school by her date.

Erwin got in the passenger seat, and sighed at the relative stiffness of the seat. She didn't like overly-soft seats, as they sank and would break down quickly. She looked over to Henrietta as she began to drive to the school.

"So, this next practice, who do you think is going to win?" Erwin asked. "I win a match only to lose the next match; you think I'll break that cycle?" Henrietta nodded.

"Yeah, the last match was a victory on your part, you managed to get Ana's and Irene's to coordinate indirect fire to knock out the Matilda tanks," Henrietta said as she drove. Erwin smirked; she was proud of how she had taken out the Matilda tanks using the Su-76s as artillery. It had expensed a bit of the HE shells, but she figured that with a bit of practice and effective fire control, her team could use the ISU-152 and the SU-76s as self-propelled howitzers.

"That's true," Erwin said. She paused, a question nagging on her mind since the conversation between her, Henrietta, and Katie on Monday. "Say, why don't you have a date?" Henrietta shrugged nonchalantly.

"I explained this Monday, haven't I?" Henrietta asked rhetorically. "It's because the people I would've asked already had dates."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain anything," Erwin countered. "I mean, who do you look for?" Erwin was shocked when Henrietta remained quiet for over two minutes before she finally responded.

"I, um, rather not talk about it now, alright?" Erwin nodded, and she looked out the window for fifteen minutes, until they finally arrived at the school, where Erwin could see a veritable flood of people entering the school, with dates in their arm.

"Alright, let's get this night over with," Erwin muttered. Henrietta nodded, and they walked calmly to the school, and Erwin felt a building of dread in her gut. She had her head on a swivel, trying to see if her 'date' was anywhere nearby. But after not seeing him at the entrance of the school, nor the hall, and finally not anywhere near the entrance to the gym, Erwin relaxed a little bit, and followed Henrietta over to the punch table.

"So it looks like he isn't here," Henrietta said. "That's odd." Erwin raised an eyebrow.

"What's odd about that?" Erwin asked. Henrietta poured herself some punch and took a drink before answering.

"Usually, Jacob would be rubbing in the fact he made you do what he wanted," Henrietta said. "So Erwin, if he doesn't-"

"Hey Riko, forgot about our deal?" said the snarky reply of Jacob Austin, who was wearing a black vest over a maroon shirt and black slacks. "And why aren't you wearing a dress?"

Erwin mentally face-palmed; why couldn't she be given the opportunity that something happened to the prick, like he got into a fight and had to leave, he got drunk and forgot, or even best of all, he got into a crash and was left paralyzed? That would've been the best option. But no, he had to come in, albeit after her.

"This is a dress, and you didn't specify what kind of dress," Erwin said. "This is an officer dress uniform." Jacob snorted.

"Yeah, but it's more uniform than anything else," he replied. "So Riko, how about a dance?" Erwin knew it wasn't a request but rather a demand, so she followed Jacob onto the dance floor with her right hand in his left.

Much to Erwin's surprise, the dance floor wasn't a rave dance like she expected. Instead it was more of a slow dance, with some soft tunes coming from the school's band. She shot a glare to Jacob, reminding him of their deal, before they began to dance.

At first, she thought Jacob would use this as an opportunity to do something perverted, like grab her ass or something to that effect, but true to his word he didn't do anything perverted. Rather he merely placed his right hand around her wrist and held onto her right hand with his left. She recognized the posture as the lead position for a Viennese Waltz, and adjusted herself to be the second, with Jacob being the lead.

They danced to the song of the band, a song which Erwin didn't recognize the name to, for a few minutes before Jacob spoke.

"So you can actually dance formally," Jacob complimented. "Much better than the last, oh, five girlfriends I have had." Erwin frowned, noting that Jacob was acting like a womanizer. She nodded, noting he was looking at her strangely.

"Yeah, I took dance lessons when I was in middle school," Erwin answered. "It was one of my better classes as well." Jacob smirked, one that showed sheer arrogance.

"Oh really?" Jacob asked. "Tell me, why do you dress like a German General, take tankery, and yet you are good at dancing?"

Erwin was half tempted to stomp on Jacob's foot, but at that point they were rotating, and thus it would've resulted in her falling onto the floor. But she decided to keep calm and not cause a scene.

"Well, I'm a history buff, and eh…" She found it hard to come up with a compelling reason. Ever since she entered High school and been with her old friends she adopted the style of Erwin Rommel. But before she could continue finish her thought, Jacob stopped dancing, scowling at the stage. Erwin turned her head and saw an older man that stood tall above the crowd, wearing a very formal suit, with a comb over and a clean shaven face.

"God damn it, why must he always come?" muttered Jacob darkly. Erwin raised an eyebrow.

"And who might that be?" Erwin asked. Jacob snorted, amused by her question.

"That, Riko Matsumoto, would be my up-tight, prim and proper, 'father'," Jacob snidely informed Erwin. Erwin watched Jacob's father talking with a couple of the teachers that were at the ball. She couldn't find a reason that Jacob hated him.

"Well, I lost my appeal to be here," Jacob muttered. "I'll see you at the winter ball this December, and will you make sure you wear a dress?" Erwin, too deep in her thoughts off-handily answered.

"Yeah sure, whatever," Erwin said, trying to figure out what possible reason Jacob would hate his father for, when she suddenly realized what she said. "Wait, WHAT?!" She turned and saw Jacob snicker at her, tauntingly waving an audio recorder.

"That mother-"

"Erwin, what's up?" Henrietta asked, and Erwin turned around to see Henrietta was standing behind her, her head tilted in curiosity. Erwin huffed.

"I got played by Jacob once more," admitted Erwin. Henrietta face-palmed.

"I am so sorry," Henrietta said. "How about we leave so that you can relax?" Erwin nodded, and the two of them headed hastily to the exit, looking forward to tomorrow's practice match.

* * *

><p>"Alright guys," Erika began. "Today's match will be the last team practice before we go up against Salem High next week. Therefore, I expect you guys to show your best today!"<p>

Erwin and her team nodded, while Jackie's gave an enthusiastic cheer. As they began to mount their tanks, Erwin glanced over to Katie, Joan, Christine, and Henrietta.

"So…" Katie started. "How was err, the dance?" Erwin glared at her, still pissed she been outwitted by Jacob like a fucking idiot. As she mused over it last night and this morning, she reckoned the man that Jacob declared to be 'his father' was probably some random guy.

"I rather not talk about it," Erwin curtly replied. She set her radio frequency to her team's open radio. "Alright guys, do you guys understand the plan?"

"Hey Riko, are you sure this plan will work?" Irene asked cautiously. "It seems a bit aggressive." Erwin sighed.

"That is because it is aggressive! I don't want to give Jackie's team a chance to get anywhere."

"But still Riko, this doesn't seem wise," Vera added. "You can't seriously expect Jackie not to expect this…"

"Vera, how many times have our well thought out and rather elaborate plans worked out?" Erwin asked coldly.

"50/50," Vera said defeated. "But Riko, if this fails, then we are going to be left in the open…"

"Which is why we are moving as one," Erwin countered. "Trust me, it is risky, but when it works out, we will surely come out on top." The other tank commanders sighed; they knew Erwin wasn't thinking straight, and they heard how Jacob had got her to go out on another date with him. But she was the captain, and they didn't have any better plan on the battlefield they were on.

"Alright then," Erwin said, sitting in her commander seat. "Panzer Vor!"

_**Jackie's PoV**_

"Is everyone ready to set off?" Jackie asked one last time. "Kim, I better not hear that your T14 is acting up." Jackie was ticking off on a notepad, keeping track on which of her commanders weren't knocked out and which tanks knocked out a tank. She wanted in the event she replaced Erwin to have a capable XO. Currently, she was thinking of probably having Kim, as she was only knocked out in the matches where the team lost and the first battle.

"Jackie, the T14 is fine, now can we go over the plan?" Kim asked, exhausted as she had to load all the shells into the T14 as her tank mates were late getting to the practice due to the near infamous I-5 traffic jam.

"Yes, the plan is simple; the heavy tanks will drive to the hill and secure it; while the light tanks will flank through the woods," Jackie said. "Target priority will be in this order; Riko's ISU-152, the SU-76s, the Marder IIIs, and finally the light tanks, in no particular order."

"Yes Jackie!" said the tank commanders, confirming the plan. Jackie sat in her Churchill Mk VII, looking forward to the battle. She looked forward to a great victory, and she wanted to make Riko look like an utter idiot despite her tankery experience.

"Very well then; let's set off forward to victory!" Jackie ordered, and her tank lurched forward. She looked around from her commander's hatch, and saw to her relief that the team was in formation; the heavy tanks adopted a V-pattern to maximize fire forward and to the flanks, while the light tanks adopted a line pattern to quickly traverse through the woods.

She sat in her position and relaxes, thinking that the battle would be decided quickly. She looked down to her radio operator, Kristin.

"Kristin, how are the other tanks doing?" Jackie asks. Kristin chuckles.

"They are reporting everything is nominal," Kristin reports. "Though the light tanks are reporting they are having to traverse deeper into the forest; as the shells from Riko's ISU-152 knocked a lot of trees in the last battle."

"Very well, inform Ester and Sasha to give me an update when they see the enemy," Jackie said quietly. She checks around the tank formation as they began to climb the hill, wondering what Riko's plan was. She figure she would do a pincer formation attack, but she knew that if they did that the light tanks would be able to intercept any formation in the forest, slowing the attack so that her team could pick off the other flank's advances.

She quietly sighs, hating how slow all of her tanks were. The Churchill up a hill was incredibly slow, and she knew that the T14 and the Matilda tanks were no better. She looked over to her right, where the field was, and saw no tanks coming towards them. _Perhaps they tried to go into the forest again, _reasoned Jackie. She knew that Riko loved complicated plans for one reason or another, and so she ordered Kristin to check on the light tanks.

"Jackie, they report there is no evidence of the enemy in the forest," Kristin reports. Jackie frowns; where was Riko's team.

"I am contacting Sasha," Jackie mutters to Kristin. "Sasha, what is this; Riko doesn't have any of her tanks in the forest?" The young Latvian girl sighs.

"Yes Jackie. As I told Kristin, we haven't encountered any tanks in the forest," Sasha states. "If I had to guess, they are in the field, trying to flank you guys." Jackie rubs her chin, not thinking that was likely.

"Sasha, you and Ester get your tanks out of the field quickly and use your speed to find them," Jackie commands. "Riko isn't acting like I expected her to." She then notes that her team has finally crested the hill, and they are looking at the small little town on the hill.

It was simple, with a water tower, a couple of row buildings, and a long main street with a couple of off shoots that were covered by buildings. It was ideal to make a final stand, but not great for a beginning attack. She wanted her tanks up on the hill so they could quickly reposition once Riko's team were found.

"Alright guys, keep an eye on your surroundings," Jackie cautioned. "Riko's team hasn't been seen in the forest, and thus we don't know where they are." Jackie then commands her team to head down the main road. Her tem follows her Churchill, which then saw a lone BT-7.

"Fire on the BT-7!" Jackie commands. Her gunner takes aim and fires, barely missing the Bt-7 as it began to reverse, heading down the main road toward the hill slope. "All tanks, all fire forward!"

Jackie and her team begin firing their cannons, but Catherine's BT-7 manages to avoid their fire, swerving while in reverse. Jackie would've complemented the driver for her skill, but she was focused on taking her out.

"Concentrate your fire!" Jackie bellows out. "We have to-"

"Jackie, come in!" Ester's voice came over the radio. Jackie growls before replying.

"WHAT?!" Jackie snarls out.

"Sasha and I know where Riko's team is roughly!" Ester starts. "They are all on the hill!" Jackie was about to ask how when she heard a massive explosion behind her. She turned in her seat, and sees to her horror that Riko's ISU-152 had managed to get behind her entire team and had taken out Kim's T14..

"Everyone, get off the hill!" Jackie orders the rest of the team, only to then hear several shells bounce off her tank's side armor. She rapidly begins looking for the targets, only to realize she had managed to get her team into a trap.

_**Erwin's PoV**_

"Everyone, open fire!" Erwin commands. "Christine, load AP, on the double!" She saw Christine quickly loading the shell, and Erwin smirks.

Her plan was originally going to be go head to head against Jackie and force a brawl, but she forgot two things; one was that Jackie's tanks were slow and second that, with the exception of the ISU-152, her tanks were fast. So by the time they got to the hill, Jackie's team had yet to get to the hill. So she reworked her plan, and had gotten her team situated to turn the main road into a kill box.

With her ISU-152 blocking any retreat backwards, and with Astrid's and Vera's Marders now rolling to block off the center road with Catherine's BT-7, that left Irene and Ana's Su-76 to lay fire via the side roads with Cheryl's Tetrach aiding them.

"AP loaded, cannon's ready to fire!" Christine reports. Erwin turns to Joan.

"Joan, fire at will!" Erwin orders. Joan takes aim at Ashley's T14 and lands the shot in the rear engine compartment, knocking out the T14.

"Good Shot Joan!" henrietta commends. "Erwin, I don't see their light tanks."

"They are probably flanking in the woods or fields," Erwin casually states. "We can mop them up when we take care of these tanks." She watches as the Su-76s focus fire on the Churchill, only to continually bounce off its armor. The Matilda turn their turrets to them and attempt to knock both of them out, but the Marders managed to knock out Paula's tank before they took out Ana's. However, Thatcher's Matilda knocks out Irene's Su-76, and Jackie's Churchill quickly retaliate against the Marders and the Bt-7. Erwin curses her luck; the Churchill's 75mm HV cannon sure fired quickly. But she knew it didn't matter, as the Jackie's Churchill and Thatcher's Matilda were trapped, with no possible escape.

"Joan, fire on Jackie's Churchill when the cannon is loaded!" Erwin commands, and Joan nods.

"Very well!" Joan said. "Christine, how much longer?" Christine loaded the powder charge, and Katie quickly closes the breach.

"Round's loaded!" Christine states. Erwin nods to Joan, who takes aim at the Churchill as it tried to turn it's turret to Ana's SU-76. She pulls the trigger, and the ISU-152 shakes, the shell leaving the barrel in a massive plume of smoke. The shell hits the side of the Churchill's turret, and it explodes, knocking it out. By this time, Ana's Su-76 landed a shot on the turret ring of the Matilda, and knocked the turret out, effectively knocking out the Matilda.

"Alright, sound off! Who is knocked out, and who is still in the battle?" Erwin asks.

"This is Ana, we are still in."

"This is Cheryl; the Tetrarch is looking for fun."

"Bah, Vera and Astrid, along with mine, are knocked out," notes a disappointed Catherine. "Why was I bait?"

"This is Riko, the ISU-152 is still in shape!" Erwin reports. "And Catherine, you were bait because you drew the short straw!" She heard Catherine mutter darkly to herself.

"So that leaves Sasha and Ester's tanks in play," Erwin said, noting the tanks that were knocked out in the kill box. "Alright then, all tanks, reposition towards the only paths on the hill, and take up positions, I don't want them getting on the hill and trying to drive circles around us and get lucky!"

The others confirmed the order, and Erwin orders the ISU-152 to head to the path that Jackie's team had used to get to the hill. She chuckled at how her plan had oddly enough worked. She heard the radio chatter with Cheryl firing frantically at Sasha's Bt-7 while Ana knocked out Ester's Tetrarch.

Erwin relaxes, and she turned to her tank mates.

"So Katie, how are you feeling?" Katie chuckled.

"I know I feel better than poor Christine; what will you do in the tournament when we have to engage fifteen tanks?" Christine gives Katie the bird.

"Maybe I should make you the loader for some of the battles," replies Christine. "Then let's see how easily you make jokes about the position." Katie frantically waved her hands in front of her.

"Oh no, I couldn't do that, I would have sore arms for days," Katie replied. "Plus, I have the all important duty of closing the breech!" Christine and Katie continued to argue, and Erwin enjoyed the conversation when suddenly the ISu-152 recoiled. Erwin looks over to Joan.

"What the hell was that about?" Erwin asked. Joan points to the front.

"Well, I just took out a poor Bt-7," Joan replied calmly. "I thought that was the goal of us guarding this path." Erwin looks to the front, and indeed, there was a Bt-7 with a broken track.

"Huh, good job," replied Erwin, surprised that Sasha's Bt-7 was able to get around to where her team began. Erika then came over the radio.

"Alright, battle results; Jackie's team, all knocked out. Riko's team, three survived, the rest knocked out. Therefore, Riko's team wins! Everyone in the knocked out tanks, get out and go to the Duce and a Half, everyone else drive the tanks back to the hangar. I will do a battle debrief one everyone is back in the hangar."

Erwin sighs; she hated Erika's battle debrief, as she usually insisted that they were unorganized mob that used overwhelming firepower in the case of Erwin's team and in the case of Jackie's team she was too predictable with her formations. But as far as Erwin was concerned, it would be worth it, as she finally broke the win/loss pattern.

* * *

><p>After the battle debrief, Erika was in her rented out house, doing some homework for her schooling. She was busy thinking about the upcoming nationals and the training her team would need to do if they wanted to win, as well as exploring where they could get additional tanks if they made it to the finals.<p>

So far, she figured that they should get some medium tanks with high penetration cannons, and maybe a couple of heavy tanks. She was looking into a lead for a couple of M26 Pershing tanks to increase their roster should they make it to the finals when her phone rang. Erika picked it up and answered.

"Erika Itsumi here," Erika replied. She then heard the calm tone of her tankery instructor Shiho Nishizumi.

"Hello Erika," Shiho greeted. "I assume you have good news for me." Erika pushes aside her homework and grabs her folder on Raven's Peak tankery class. She knew that while she was under the guise of spreading tankery to other schools, she knew her true purpose; to scout out the threats to Black Forest's in the international tankery championship.

"Of course," Erika said. "Raven's Peak tankery class is capable, with a decent selection of tanks, but most of them could easily be taken out with our medium tanks. The only threats I can see are the ISU-152 and the Churchill Mk VII as far as tanks are concerned. However, right now, the teams seemed to be split between Jackie Lambert and Riko Matsumoto, but they are rather skilled commanders in two different ways."

"Oh, are we dealing with another Ooarai team?" Shiho asked. Erika shook her head.

"No, rather they have different methods of leading the team. Jackie Lambert focuses on coordination and formation movement, and is more cautious of the two. Meanwhile Riko Matsumoto is more aggressive and takes bigger risks. But if Raven's Peak does make it to the internationals, which I would be shocked if I am honest, then should I sabotage their efforts?"

Erika was secretly hoping not to be order to sabotage the team, as it would ruin her reputation in the tankery circles. As it was, her inability to get o Maho in the fight between Black Forest and Ooarai made her lose her standings, as Black Forest was the favorite to win, ten to one.

"No," Shiho stated calmly. "If Raven's Peak is able to get around its split command issue and their medicore tanks, then I would like to see what they can bring in the international tournament. And besides, I am currently upgrading the fleet of tanks we have as we speak."

Erika chuckled; she heard from Maho a few times, but she didn't give specifics. She wondered how the fleet for Black Forest would be improved.

"Oh, what is going on with the fleet?"

"Simple, I am getting some top of the line model for the tanks. I am replacing all the Panzer IIIs with VK1602s, the Panzer IVs with Panther IIs, and the Jagdpanzer IVs with Nashorn tank destroyers," Shiho replied. "Also, the existing Panthers we have will be updated to the model two, so we can focus on having more tanks with impressive firepower."

Erika knew that the Panther IIs used the Tiger IIs 88mm Kwk 46 cannon on a Panther II chassis, so that would be excellent against the rumors of Pravada incorporating a couple of IS-3 heavy tanks to their fleet.

"That's good," Erika replied. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Not at this time," Shiho said. "Just send a report of the battle between Raven's Peak and Salem high, I am curious how it goes down with Jackie and Riko working together instead of against each other."

"Very well," Erika replied, and she hung up the phone. She turned her attention back to her homework, thinking about how the Japanese nationals would go down. She smirks as she hopes that Ooarai would suffer a humiliating defeat this time.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Alright, another chapter, and sorry about the delay. I got my head in the literary gutter and haven't been able to come up with a good idea on how to do this chapter. So I hope this suffices.<strong>

**I don't have much to say other than to Theralion; please don't kill me for being a week later than I said I would! I tried to get the chapter out, but life is very distracting at times! Also, figuring out the ball scene was hard for me, as I have never been to a high school ball. So there is that.**

**Until next time, please follow, favorite, and review!**

**PS: If you have a theme you want to suggest for Salem High's tankery team, send me a PM or leave it in the reviews, I could use the help!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Welcome to Salem!

* * *

><p>Erwin was in the hangar, helping her team ready the ISU-152 for the long ride to Salem, Oregon. Katie and Henrietta were making sure nothing was loose on the inside, while Joan and Christine were busy making sure the pins in the tracks were in properly and that the tank was fueled up.<p>

"Gah, I hate getting gas on me," whined Christine. "It ruins whatever clothes it gets on, and it stinks forever. Riko, why must we fill the ISU-152 now, why not do it when we get to Salem?"

Erwin sighed; the same thought had crossed her mind earlier, but when explained to her by Erika, she understood the reason. Simply put, going from Everett, Washington to Salem, Oregon was at least a four hours of driving, but that if you took the I5 highway, which at the time they were leaving would probably be in gridlock. No, they had to take highway 405, which would add another two hours.

So they had to fuel the tanks now, which would arrive at the school in the morning tomorrow by train, so that they could maximize the amount of time they had to conduct the battle. But as she pointed this fact to Christine, the blonde's life force seemed to drift away. _Nothing I can do, _thought Erwin.

"So," Jackie said suddenly. "Riko, look forward to commanding the team as a whole?"

"Sort of," Erwin admitted. "I am a bit nervous, and hope I don't make a colossal fool of myself." Jackie laughed softly.

"It can't be that bad," Jackie sad. "Salem high is a bit smaller than Raven's Peak, so it probably doesn't have as well maintained of a tank fleet as ours. That or they have less tanks. Either way, it's good for us."

Erwin nodded, but she doubted that the tournament in the Us would be as unbalanced as it was in Japan. It's not that she thought each school would have the same budget, she knew better, but she also read the rules, and it made some mentions that made it seemed like there wouldn't be the various problems that Ooarai encountered (such as facing Black Forest's tank fleet of thirty tanks with only eight tanks, most of which should've been scrapped). So she didn't count this upcoming battle to be easily won.

After a little bit more preparations, the ISU-152 was ready, and Erwin and her crew mates left to head for the bus that would take the entire team to Salem. As they were getting on, Erika waved Erwin for a 'chat'.

"Riko, as you know, you are going to have to lead the team against Salem tomorrow," Erika started. "Now, I managed to get in contact with the instructor that teaches there, and she said that in all likelihood, the match will be close and fierce. She has faith in the team's commander, and she mentioned they had some rather good tanks."

"But Ms. Itsumi, shouldn't the Chruchill Mk VII and the ISU-152 be more the competent against whatever they bring in, short of maybe a Maus tank or something similar?" Erwin asked. She however knew that it was only two powerful tanks, while the other tanks either had no armor, weak guns, or were slow.

"True, but still, you never know what they could have," Erika stated. "But never mind that now, take a seat with your friends and get your mind situated, I rather not have the first team battle turn into a disaster."

Erwin nodded, and she quietly took a seat next to Henrietta while Joan, Christine, and Katie sat across the aisle from them. In front of her seat was Jackie and her friend Kim, and behind her was Sarah and Cheryl.

"So, do we have any plans on how we are going to knock out Salem's team?" Jackie asked, turning around to face Erwin.

"I suppose we are going to plan what Erika and Sgt. Harper had in mind for the team; Sarah's unit will scout and flank, your unit Jackie will push down the center, and my unit will find a suitable place to set up and ambush the enemy," Erwin said. "Other than that, I can't plan for much, because I don't know what tanks they have, and I don't know what the terrain is like."

Jackie nodded, a bit disappointed that they didn't have any better of a plan. But what could she expect; they didn't know what Salem was bringing into the fight, and they didn't know what the field of battle was like. She prayed that it wasn't a flat open prairie; with the number of lightly armored vehicles on their team, an open field would be a slaughter feast.

"So Riko, is it true you are going to the winter ball with Jacob?" Sarah asked, snickering at the blonde's misfortune.

"Argh, please, can we not talk about the cursed, wretched, deal I agreed to without paying attention?" pleaded Erwin. "Now that jerk will keep bugging me until I lose my sanity."

"Your fault for agreeing with him," Katie said, who hastily added something about being 'out of it' when Erwin sent her a death glare that would stop the entirety of Operation Barbarossa.

"Never use that glare ever again, that was evil incarnate," Joan said. "Also, its improper for a someone of your position."

Before Erwin could properly respond to Joan's comment, the other girls began to gang up on Erwin, and she silently vowed that once this wretched bus ride to Salem was over, she would make them suffer. She would ensure that her team would win, but god damn, she would make her team mates suffer like she was suffering now. What she didn't know was how terrifying a conversation about dance dresses could be, for it she did, she would've deserted and ran to the Cascades, never to be heard from again.

* * *

><p>"I pity that girl so much," Sgt. Harper mused to Erika. Erika grinned savagely; that thought of enduring conversation after conversation about dresses, shoes, boys, and other flights of fancy would make Erwin want to curl up and hide for a while. But then she remembered she was the team captain and sighed, it wasn't in the vested intrest of the team to force the captain into hiding.<p>

"But still, we have other things to discuss," Harper continued. "We need to figure out what tanks we can replace and what tanks we can acquire for when we get to the finals."

Erika was amused by Sgt. Harper's opinion that they would make it to the finals. Perhaps he figured that the tank selection they had offered them a great advantage early on, and when they got closer to the finals, they could acquire some heavy armor and replace a couple of tanks.

"I suggest we find replacements to the Marder IIIs; sure the Pak-40 guns are good, but their performance in the mock battles show the problems of the designs. No turret, rear mounted cannons,, next to no armor, and the firepower isn't good against the heavier tanks, like the T14s, the Matildas, or the Churchills."

"Also, they aren't as mobile as the Su-76s, and they don't offer the indirect fire capability of those vehicles. I guess the fact that they were a tank destroyer conversion shouldn't surprise us about the capability of the tanks."

"I agree," Erika began. "But what could we reasonable replace them with?" She saw only three ways to improve on the Marders; get a tank destroyer with a bigger gun, get one with more armor, or get one with more mobility/a turret.

"How about M10 tank destroyers?" Sgt. Harper suggested. "They mount a slightly larger cannon, they incorporate a turret, and they have better armor overall."

Erika nodded; the m10 would be a decent tank destroyer, beating the Marder IIIs in a number of fields. She quietly wrote down on a notepad to look into M10 tank destroyers.

"Alright, but how about the other tanks, are their others we should replace or even upgrade?" Erika asked. Her main thoughts were on the Tetrarchs and the Matildas; while the 2-pounder guns has good penetration and accuracy, it was a tad on the small side and anything more armored (like Panther and Tiger tanks) and the gun would be utterly useless.

"Well, I could see about getting the USSR Lend-Lease conversion kit on the Matilda tanks; that would give them a F-34 76mm cannon, which is a better cannon for larger tanks," Sgt. Harper said. "And the light tanks, well, they aren't supposed to light directly with the medium and heavy tanks, so I don't think we should worry about them."

"Fine, I rather see a better tank than the tetrarch, but if you think it would be better to use resources to other tanks, than fine. What about the 'new' fifteen tanks, any ideas on what the structure they should be?"

"I have an idea about that," Harper said. "I think that should be a so called 'Guards' unit, basically we give the 'veteran tankers' new tanks that still fulfill what they learned. Maybe we can tweak our doctrine and strategy depending on what tanks they would rather have."

Erika was about to object, when she realized why he suggested doing it this way. The team would see the flaws with their tanks, and thus would know what they would rather have as a crew. Maybe they rather have a more mobile tank, maybe they want a tank with better armor. But in the end, they would chose based on their combat experience, and not from a stat sheet.

"Alright, but they should be informed of this, so they can begin getting ideas of what they would want, as we need the new tanks before the finals," Erika said.

"I can agree to that," Harper stated. "Now, the only thing I want to do is get some sleep, I have been up for a while, and while teenagers can stay awake for days on end, I simply can't. So wake me up once we get to Oregon."

Erika nodded, and the sergeant leaned against the window, enjoying the cold touch of the glass. Erika meanwhile wasn't confident about the team knowing what tanks they would need, so she began jotting down some ideas.

She knew that as the tournament progressed, the teams would bring bigger and bigger tanks out, and thus she wanted to have countered to the heaviest monsters imaginable. Her mind flickered to the thought of Raven's Peak facing off against Black Forest Academy in the international tournament and them being nearly unprepared for the Maus.

She thought about so called 'Maus-killers', tanks designed to take out super-heavy tanks. The first obvious idea was using another super-heavy tank. Of these there were only a few real options. The T28 tank destroyer mounted a 105mm gun and was heavily armored, but it was too slow to really be a efficient counter. Same problem with the A39 Tortise, but they could be an option for an ambush unit tank. The Isu-152 with its 152mm cannon might be able to kill a Maus, but she wasn't banking on it.

She thought about other tanks. The T29, T34, and T30 were all good heavy tanks, but she didn't know about the gun performance enough to have confidence in their ability to counter a Maus. So her mind drifted to using a more mobile tank with an adequate gun to destroy the Maus.

Of these she had three real possibilities; the M26 Pershing, the Centurion Mk1, and the T44-100. All three were main battle tanks, all three mounted guns largers than 90mms, and all were mobile enough to flank the monster super-heavy tank. But the problem with relying on flanks was that if the Maus was adequately supported, a flank might not be possible.

She thought about how stupid is was for Black Forest not to have a couple of Tigers guarding the Maus. They would've put a stop to the ridiculous tactic that Ooarai used to knock out the Maus. She then pondered on some of the things she heard from Shiho last time.

She knew that Shiho thought the problem with Black Forest Academy was their equipment, but in reality it was training. Having Panther IIs, Nashorns, and the Vk-1602 (really, that prototype tank was only marginally better than the Panzer III) didn't make up for the fact that the team wasn't able to react to unique and odd situations.

Granted, the new tanks would help against Pravada (the thought of IS-3 tanks was a nightmarish prospective), but against the other teams, it wouldn't do much. She would talk to Maho about Black Forest about their training and tactics when she got the chance, but for now she had to have faith in the school's ability to bounce back.

Erika sighed as she watched Erwin dealing with the gossiping teammates. Perhaps it would be better not to dwell too much on the future for now.

* * *

><p>"Never again," muttered Erwin as she slowly got off the bus. "Will I engage in the mess that is gossip if it is only about me." She felt utterly brain dead from the chatter that erupted due to 'date' with Jacob to the winter ball. Henrietta, Katie, Joan, and Christine had thankfully stayed out of it, and they tried (key word: tried) to discourage the others from bugging Erwin about it. But no, fate had to ignore her wishes.<p>

She thought it might be best if she figured a way to not ensure future encounters with Jacob, if nothing more than to avoid the gossip 'chats' that just occurred. She didn't have anything solid, yet she had a few ideas.

Upon everyone getting off the bus, Erika and Sgt. Harper led Raven's Peak team to Salem's High tankery hangar. Erwin's opinion of Salem High was that while smaller than Raven's Peak, it was highly organized and carefully laid out. She could see much though had been put into the building, as she reckoned a person could get to any point of the school (save for the tankery hangar) in under five minutes.

"Ah, Sgt. Harper how is Everett?" said the booming voice of a middle age black man. Sgt. Harper chuckled.

"Dear god; when did you get stuck teaching Lt. Parker?" Harper asked. Parker laughed.

"Oh, I got discharged from the army due to, ahem, 'mobility issues'," Parker said, air quoting himself. He gestured to his foot, which Erwin recognized to be a prosethic. "Fucking IED in Afghanistan hit our Humvee, and shrapnel rip my foot apart. Took about three months to get back to walking normal with this handicap, but it was enough for a medical discharge. But still, the army offered to give me this job when the DoD began the national tankery."

"Ah, that sucks," Harper said. "So I suppose your cadets are inside?" Parker nodded.

"Aye, that be about right. I would've expected your cadets to be in formation."

"Nah, I don't think that after a seven hour bus ride they should subject themselves to trying to be in formation," Harper reasoned, and upon seeing Parker raise an eyebrow he explained. "Oh, there was a jackass who rear-ended a fuel truck, we had to take a major detour to get around, and by then since everyone learned of the accident the path we took was clogged with traffic."

"Hm, go figure, kids these days, not knowing how to drive," muttered Parker. He led them into the hangar, where to Erwin surprise was a perfect formation of students, all wearing a light blue uniform.

"Attention!" Parker barked out to his cadets. "These fine people who endured seven hours of terrible bus riding conditions are Raven's Peak tankery unit! You will respect them like one of your own, and you will show them courtesy as we are the hosting team for this friendly match. Do you understand?"

"Yes Lt. Parker!" replied Salem's tankery team. Parker smiled.

"Alright, enough formalities. Sgt. Harper, instructor Izumi, let me introduce you to the team's CO and XO, Belle and Angeline Rivers."

Erwin noticed that the twins looked identical. Both had sleek blonde hair, brown eyes, and were moderately tall. The only difference she could see was that Belle had scar on her neck.

"Likewise, this," Sgt. Harper began by motioning to her and then to Jackie. "is Riko Matsumoto and Jackie Lambert, our CO and XO respective."

"I see," Parker said thoughtfully. "I suppose then before we head off to get some sleep that your team would like to inspect our tanks and mingle with the crews?"

"I suppose," Harper said. "It would allow us to catch up, for old times sake." Parker nodded, and he dismissed his cadets, allowing the two teams to interact. Erwin and Jackie approached the Rivers.

"Nice to meet you," Belle Rivers said, while shaking Erwin's hand. "So did you guys really have to endure a seven hour drive?" Erwin nodded.

"Yeah, it was painful, but sadly, while it would've been nice to sleep, I was denied by my team," Erwin said. "They wanted to gossip so much."

"That sucks," Angeline noted. "But I suppose you want to take stock of what tanks we have?"

"Sure," Erwin said. The Rivers then lead Erwin and Jackie through the Hangar, and commented on their tanks, and to say Erwin's reservation about Salem's team were justified.

The Rivers told them that while they only have twelve tanks, they made up for it with organization. In total there were three platoons with four tanks each, and each platoon had the same composition.

Making up three quarters of the team were M4A2 medium tanks fitted with the 75mm M3 l40 cannon. They were fairly mobile, and the firepower, while not the best in the world, would be able to handle most of the tanks Raven's Peak had.

Leading each Platoon however was the real threats; the M36 Jackson, outfitted with a 90mm cannon. Those would be able to nullify the armor advantage of the ISU-152 and the Churchill MK VII without any problem.

Erwin and Jackie looked at each other with a bit of apprehension; they knew that if they wanted victory they would need to knock out the team quickly, or they would lose due to maneuver warfare. The Rivers saw their apprehension and inquired about it.

"Well, its just that on our team, were have fifteen tanks, but they are divided into three different groups with three different goals," Erwin began to explain. "We have a scout element, a ambush element, and a assault element, but sadly most of our tanks aren't as armored as your Shermans and the ambush element consist entirely of non-turreted tank destroyers."

"Why did your instructors suggest that structure?" asked Belle. Jackie shrugged.

"I guess the idea was that the entire team would work as one, not work in units. If so, it would be a slaughter for our team if we tried to split up our efforts. It appears that your team can split up and cover more ground with your organization and tank composition."

"So, what tanks do you guys have?" Angeline asked. Erwin ran down the list, and the Rivers shuddered when they got to the ISU-152.

"Why do you guys need an ISU-152; most teams are probably going to be composed of medium tanks, and that level of firepower is overkill," Belle argued. Erwin shrugged.

"Well, it is efficient at taking out heavy tanks," countered Erwin. "So if our team does encounter tanks like Tiger or IS tanks, we can have a viable counter to them."

"I suppose that make sense," Angeline said. "But still, your composition for your team is too fragmented at the moment. But I guess it will come down to tactics; most of your tanks can knock out our tanks with ease, but our Jacksons can knock out any tanks you guys have, while our Shermans might struggle against the Churchill and the ISU-152."

"Yeah, I suppose you are right," Erwin said. By this time, Harper had called for Erwin and the others to follow him to their 'sleeping areas' (which in this case was Salem high's gym, with sleeping bags), and Erwin and Jackie began the discussion on how the hell they were going to win tomorrow's battle.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: Argh, I hate month long breaks between chapters, but I had a hard time deciding the composition of Salem High's tank force. I decided to make it easy on myself and choose a common US tank backed by some heavy hitting US tank killers.<strong>

**But now, we have a proper battle to look forward to, which I hope to have out sooner than a month, and I am going to start and say this; with the national tournament coming up, I will have to figure out the compositions of multiple teams. So this means that my updates will take longer, as I want a variety of team compositions (some nationally themed, others doctrinally themed). But still, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

**So if you have an idea for a tankery team, here are some ground rules;**

**1: Unless your team is going to the finals, only include fifteen tanks, otherwise the cap is thirty.**

**2: No 'uber' teams (eg: a team composed nothing but M26 Pershings or the like)**

**3: Explain what doctrine and how they would fight in battle. Also some insight into the commander's mind would be nice.**

**4: No super heavy tanks (unless you want them to be in the finals).**

**As always, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Salem vs Raven's Peak

* * *

><p>Erwin was in the commander seat of her ISU-152, with her tank mates in their respective seats, and the other tank crews in their vehicles. She was feeling a bit nervous, not only due to the three M36 Jacksons on Salem's tankery team, but also at the mention that this was standard tankery rules, not the traditional death match her team trained around.<p>

"Alright everyone," she spoke over the radio lines. "As mentioned, we must knock out the enemy's flag tank, which is one of the M36 Jacksons, while we must not allow our ISU-152 to be knocked out. So stay in your formations, cover each other, and hold fire if you are outnumbered and not detected."

She heard a number of confirmations, but it didn't do much to ease her mind. She felt something bad was going to happen. She turned to Joan, who was making sure her sights were cleaned and properly aligned.

"Joan, are you going to have difficulties hitting the enemy?" Erwin asked. Joan shrugged.

"Depends on how fast they are moving, and if occasional patch of woods is enough to throw my aim," Joan said, noting the relative lack of terrain. Literally, the battle was taking place in a field that had a few pockets of trees. It was flat, open (except for the tree pockets), and with no cover to hid the tanks behind.

Erwin thought about the plan. The ambush element would take the two tree pockets and hide in them as best they could, the assault element would drive forward and force the enemy into the guns of the ambush element as best they could, and the scout element would harass the enemy's flank. But with Salem using Sherman and Jackson tanks, she doubted that her plan would work flawlessly. Something utterly terrible would happen.

* * *

><p><em>Belle's POV<em>

"Alright, everyone focused on the mission?" Belle asked over the radio rhetorically. "We are to take out the enemy's ISU-152 to win the battle. Take out the other tanks if it keeps you alive, but when the ISU-152 appears, focus fire on it."

"Hey Belle, take it easy," her sister Angeline said. "No need to act like our teacher, this isn't war, this is a friendly match." Belle grumbled at her sister's laid back attitude. She was more care-free than she was which meant that Angeline would sometimes not react quickly enough to evolving threats. But as an XO, she got along with the others of the team very well, so it sort of balanced out.

"Whatever," Belle said. "But remember, the ISU-152 must be knocked out for the match to end. So let's find it and knock it out as quickly as possible." The other tank commanders acknowledged the order, and soon LT. Parker came over the radio.

"Alright guys, the battle is starting now!" he said. "Give them hell!" Belle nodded, and began issuing orders.

"Team Alpha will stay behind as I am the flag tank. Teams Bravo and Charlie, proceed forward, splitting up so you can potentially flank the enemy. All the M36 Jackson will stay behind the Shermans for cover, only to take shots at the heavier threats."

She heard her team's tanks roar to life, and they began to set off. Meanwhile, her M-36 was being driven into a pocket of trees, with the Sherman tanks covering her sides, with the spare Sherman reverse in front of her to allow her to fire while having her hull covered up.

The idea was to cover as much of the M36 from incoming fire while having the maximum amount of return fire as possible. Meanwhile, Bravo and Charlie would try and eliminate the enemy tanks before they came upon Alpha. The plan was solid in her mind, so long as the match didn't become one of attrition.

"Belle, we found the enemy," Angeline stated calmly. "Mind if I take over the coms for the battle?" Belle smiled as Angeline was finally being serious. She may have sounded calm, hell one might've thought she was high just with how mellow she sounded, but Belle knew better.

And that wasn't all, as the twins had planned for this. Since Belle was the flag tank, she would be in the rear, trying to stay alive, while Angeline would be on the front taking the brunt of the attacks, so it only made sense if Angeline became acting commander when they began the fight.

"Yeah, go ahead, though make sure not to lose," Belle said quietly. She then began to listen to the radio chatter, just to keep in line with the flow of battle.

* * *

><p><em>Angeline's POV<em>

"Enemy sighted about 500 yards to our front," Angeline said, confirming the sight of an enemy formation. She sighed as it was only the light tank formation, entirely compromised of thinly armored light tanks. It didn't have the threats that needed to be taken out. She took a breathe before giving orders.

"Bravo 2, 3, and 4, open fire with your 75mm cannons," Angeline stated calmly.

"Roger that," said the commander of Bravo 2, formerly a member of Salem High's volleyball team. Angeline saw the tracers of the 75mm shells arc towards the various light tanks, chuckling as most landed short with the exception of a shell that took out a BT-7.

By this point, Raven's Peak light tanks began to maneuver to avoid further fire, dispersing their formation and beginning to fall back. Curiously, the M24 Chaffee decided to try and buy time, taking a shot at one of the Sherman tanks. While Angeline was certain since it was a light tank, it wouldn't do any damage.

However, as she saw the shell impact the lightly armored M4 Sherman and knocked it out, she realized that the Chaffee had to be taken out, as it was mobile enough to counter their mobility advantage and it had enough firepower to counteract their armor.

"Bravo 2 and 3, focus your attention on the M24," Angeline ordered. "Charlie team, meet back with us at grid…" The next thing Angeline heard was a scream over the intercom.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" screamed the voice of her close friend Patty. "Sorry Angeline, but we encountered their heavy tanks, and their tank destroyers are giving supporting fire! We need your help, "- Angeline heard a loud explosion through the radio -"DAMN IT! We lost Charlie 3 and 4 already, we have to fall back! Popping smoke!"

Angeline was about to ask for a kill confirmation when she heard the horrible noise of a shell scraping the side of her lightly armored turret. Turning, she saw that the Chaffee was doing circles around the others of Bravo, annoying Angeline. Turning to her gunner (a member of the track and field team at Salem), she smiled.

"Fire on the Chaffee," Angeline said. The gunner nodded, and she began rotating the turret in the opposite direction the Chaffee was going, predicting that the Chaffee would continue to circle them. As expected, the m24 was doing a predictable circle, and the gunner smirked as she pulled the trigger, the M36 recoiling under the massive 90mm M3 cannon.

Angeline watched the M24 chaffee skid to a halt as its tracks were devastated by the 90mm shell. She chuckled, glad she wasn't in Charlie's position. Deciding that now would be a good time to regroup with the others, she ordered her team to fall back. While they were falling back, Angeline decided to get a kill count.

"Bravo team, what tanks did we knock out?" Angeline asked. "I know we got a BT-7 and an M24 Chaffee, but did we get any others?"

"Yeah," said the commander of Bravo 2. "My tank knocked out the other Bt-7, and I think Bravo 3 got a Tetrarch, is that right?"

"Yeah," confirmed the commander of Bravo 3. "We did, so that is four fifths of the light tanks neutralized. How is Charlie team doing?" Angeline, not knowing, decided to check up on Patty.

"Patty, how is Charlie team doing?" Angeline asked. She heard Patty sigh in discomfort.

"Well, being down two M4 Sherman tanks isn't great," she replied. "However, we were able to take out the Matildas but we forced to retreat when the ISU-152 and the tank destroyer group came onto the scene."

She nodded in understanding. Four on five was a risky move, but four against ten was suicide. With the information she gathered, had they not retreated, it would've been two against eight, an impossible battle to win against the steel giants and large cannons that Raven's peak was bringing.

"Very well, let's regroup with Alpha and come up with a new plan," Angeline said to Patty. She then switched to get in contact with her sister. "Belle, bad news, we are down three Shermans, for the enemy's two Matilda tanks, two BT-7, a Tetrach, and a M24 chaffee." She heard her sister chuckled.

"Bad news?" she asked. "Ha, that sounds like good news. We knocked out a third of Raven's Peak team for only a quarter of ours. But I suppose we need to regroup and come up with a new plan?"

"Yes Belle," Angeline said. "I suggest that after regrouping, we reorganize the group and adopt a more aggressive stance against Raven's Peak."

"Oh, what are you thinking of?" Belle asked. Angeline began to calmly explain, and Belle agreed immediately. "Oh, they won't know what hit them," Belle said, confirming the plan.

* * *

><p><em>Erwin's POV<em>

"Damn it, this isn't good," Erwin said, getting a post-skirmish report. "Our number advantage is now gone as we both have nine tanks against their nine, with none of the M36 Jacksons taken out. We will need a new plan."

Erwin's first battle against a rival wasn't going as plan. Sure, the scout element found the enemy, but as a heavy cost with only one Tetrarch tank limping back. Then the assault group's Matilda tanks were knocked out despite Jackie trying to shield them with her Churchill. She sighed.

"Alright, here's the plan; my tank will lead the formation. Jackie, your Churchill and the T14s will protect my flanks. Irene, Cheryl, Ana, Vera, Astrid, follow behind our unit about two hundred, three hundred meters, with Cheryl leading the group. We are going to charge forward, find their flag tank, and neutralize them."

"But what if they flank us?" Jackie asked. "You ISU-152 can't traverse fast enough to counter them."

"That is why the you and the rest of the assault element will act as a shield for my flank," Erwin said. "The ISU-152 has the armor to ignore the cannons from the Sherman tanks, but as you said, it doesn't have a turret. You guys can swing your turrets to protect our sides."

"Alright then," Jackie said. "But for the record, this is desperate of us, charging forward like this." Erwin sighed in resignation.

"I know," she acknowledged her XO. "But the best chance for either team is to go en masse and crush each other with superior firepower. So this is our only chance at this point."

As her team re organized, she turned to Henrietta, who was annoyed with how the battle was turning out.

"Henrietta, will you be able to keep our front to the enemy?" Erwin asked. Henrietta shrugged.

"I should be able to, unless they flank us while we are focused on another group of tanks," she said. "If we can't afford to turn our tank and they flank us, we are going to have to rely on our allies to pull through."

"Very well." Erwin began to check a map of the battlefield. With the engagements of the scout and assault element, and knowing that Salem High fell back to regroup, it meant that there was only one last position left to battle over.

"Alright, listen up," Erwin said through the radio. "We are to going to start the final skirmish of this battle. Keep your heads on a swivel, aim your shots, and if all goes well, we will get out of this with a victory. All tanks, on me."

After giving Henrietta the coordinates, Erwin began checking the formation of the tanks. She was glad that Jackie's Churchill was cover as much of her left flank as possible, while the T14 tanks were covering her right flank. The other lighter tanks were following behind in a V-formation, with the Tetrarch leading them.

They began to roll towards the final position that Salem High could logical be, and Erwin began a final check.

"Katie and Christine, is the cannon loaded?" Erwin asked.

"Yes!" both replied. Erwin nodded.

"Alright, after Joan fires, I want you both to load the cannon as fast as you can," Erwin commanded. "This is going to be the final skirmish, so we need the cannon loaded as fast as possible."

"Got it," Katie said. Erwin saw Christine readying the next round, by getting it as close to her as possible. Erwin then turned to Joan.

"Joan," she began. "Don't waste too much time aiming. By my guess, the fighting will be within four hundred meters, and I cannon will be able to punch through them easily at that range. Just aim center of mass and pull the trigger, alright?"

"Alright," Joan said quietly. "But note, this gun has very little traverse, so will it be alright if I command Henrietta so the gun is always on target?" Erwin nodded.

"Do that, as our front is our thickest armor." Erwin then switched to team chatter. "Jackie, has the enemy been spotted yet?"

"Not ye-" Jackie started, only to back track. "Yes, six Shermans to our front!" Erwin quickly checked out of her commanders periscope and confirmed the enemy formation. The M4A2 tanks were splitting apart, trying to get on both sides of them.

"Jackie, tackle the enemy flanking to our left, Kim and Ashley, focus on those to the right. Everyone else, split your focus and support our push by taking any tanks you can out!" Erwin commanded.

She was glad she issued the order out quickly as the Shermans began to harass her tank in particular, focusing their fire on the ISU-152 in the hopes of scoring an easy kill.

"Joan, do you have a shot?!" Erwin asked as a shot bounced off their armor.

"Yes, taking it now!" Joan said, and she pulled the trigger. The ISU-152's Ml-20s roared to life, taking out a Sherman with its mighty shell. Erwin heard the other tanks in her formation beginning to open fire, of note being Jackie's Churchill, which took out a Sherman with their second shot.

Christine and Katie were quickly loading the next shell when Astrid came over the radio.

"Fuck, we're hit!" Astrid reported. Erwin began surrevying the area, wondering how they were knocked out. The Shermans were now to the sides, but they were now down to three. So what the…

"Shit, the Jacksons are behind us!" Vera reported followed by a loud explosion. "Shit, we're out as well." Erwin panicked; if the M36 were behind them, then it didn't matter how much armor they had, the 90mm cannons would tear their defenses apart!

"Everyone, ignore the M4s and focus on the M36 Jacksons!" Erwin commanded. "Take them all down!"

"I hear!" Jackie said. Erwin turned to Henrietta.

"Henrietta, turn the tank around!" Erwin ordered.

"I can't!" henrietta said. "We are pinned by the heavy tanks on our team. We must go forward, and then turn around!" Erwin cursed at herself for being so stupid as not to have thought about how the ISU-152 was sandwiched between the T-14s and Churchill VII.

"Do it then!" Erwin said. As the ISU-152 began to move forward, Erwin heard over the radio that the tank destroyers were mercilessly knocked out one by one, all while they tried to turn to face the M36 by both the M36s and the three remaining M4A2 Shermans. Now all that remained was the Churchill, the T14s, and the ISU-152.

"Erwin, we need to fall back!" Jackie yelled. "They got us outnumbered now!"

"We can't" Erwin shouted back. "Our tanks are much slower than theirs. We need to finish the battle here!" She turned to Katie.

"Is the cannon ready?"

"YES!" Katie yelled. Erwin didn't need to give the command to fire as Joan, with Henrietta's driving, managed to get the gun on target on the closet M36. The shells flew and scored a direct hit on the M36, knocking it out without effort.

"Was that the flag tank?" Erwin asked.

"No it wasn't," Ashley said. "We got one of the Sherm…" -She was interrupted with a loud crash. "DAMN IT, we're out because of the flag tank!" Erwin clenched her fist in frustration; this was not how the first match should've gone.

"Jackie, take out the flag tank!" Erwin commanded.

"Got it!" Jackie said as the Churchill fired on a M4A2 that attempted to flank Erwin's tank. "Turning our turret!"

"Katie, Christine, reload quickly!" Erwin urged, and she turned to face the M36 Jackson. She paled when she saw both had their cannons aimed directly at the ISU-152.

"God damn it," she muttered as she saw the muzzles flash to life. She heard both shells contact the front of the ISU-152, one harmlessly bouncing off. But the other managed to stick, hitting the cannon and knocking it out. Erwin heard the pop as the white flag raised on the top of the ISU-152, signaling they were knocked out.

"CEASE FIRE!" came the voice of Lt. Parker. "The match is over, with Salem High taking this match! Everyone, please head back to Salem's tank hangar, so we can discuss what happened during the match."

Erwin sighed as she and her tank mates climbed out of the ISU-152, and she felt more depressed when she heard that Katie had finished reloading the cannon, and Joan was already trained on the flag tank. As she and the others that were in the knocked out tanks hopped into the duce and a half, she wondered if she would get ridiculed over her defeat.

* * *

><p>"Everyone settle down," Lt. Parker said quietly, as he strode to the front of the assembled teams. They were back in the hangar, while both Salem's and Raven's Peak's automotive teams went out and recovered the knock out tanks. Erwin and her team were on one side, sitting in the folding chairs, while Belle and her sister Angeline were on the other side with their team.<p>

"Now, to discuss the match," Parker started. "First, this match was on netrual terrain, with no one side having a clear advantage one way or the other. So first thing I want to know what was the commander's plans at the start of the plan. Riko Matsumoto, how about you begin first?"

Erwin got up, clearing her throat before she began.

"The plan was to scout the enemy out and to force them out of cover," Erwin started to explain. "The scouting and assault elements were sent forward to take out the enemy forces while covering as much land as possible, thus allowing the ambush element to move forward once we were certain that it was safe to do so."

"So, in other words, you dispersed your team in an attempt to cover as much ground as possible while keeping the flag tank in the rear protected?" Parker asked, looking for verification. Erwin nodded.

"Alright then, Belle, what was your plan at the beginning?" Sgt. Harper said. Erwin looked over at Harper and Erika and she saw Erika was annoyed, probably due to them losing.

"We tried a similar tactic," Belle admitted. "I ordered Bravo and Charlie teams forward while my team took cover and protected ourselves from all angels of attack." Harper nodded, who then pointed to a blackboard.

"The problem with both of your plans is that it dispersed your tanks in an aggressive manner when you didn't have a clear advantage to do so," Sgt. Harper explained. "Had you dispersed them with the intent on forcing the battle into a match of attrition, that would've been one thing. But instead, you both tried to do the same thing, and it became a slugging match. So Riko, what did you do as the first skirmish reports came in?"

"I decided to move my element forward to support Jackie's, while having the scouting element fall back to our position," Erwin said. "From my reports, it appeared the scout element was shattered, so it made more sense to back up the more fit assault element."

"That was a good plan," Parker said. "However, your scout element shouldn't have been on the front line like that. If they are scouting, then they need the support of a friendly unit that has sufficient fire to cover them in case they encounter the enemy. However, supporting the assault element was the best thing you could've done, as it almost had finished off Charlie team and forced them into a retreat."

"Since we already know how the last skirmish went down," Parker continued. "We will discuss what went right and wrong in that skirmish."

"First off, Riko, you keeping the lighter tanks to the rear was a good decision overall. It kept them from needlessly getting exposed to enemy fire. However, you had them directly behind your tanks. They should've been off to the side, so as to support your push forward." Erwin nodded.

"That said," Harper cut in. "Belle, you plan of baiting with your Sherman tanks and flanking with the Jacksons was a good plan. It could've been executed better, with all the Shermans flanking to the side away from your Jacksons, but it worked. Though try and keep your Shermans alive; just because you have a great plan doesn't mean something as simple as a barricade in your path will send it down the drain."

"But what I think threw the match in Salem's favor was your decision Riko to coffin your ISU-152 in between the heavy tanks," Parker commented. "They didn't need to be as close to your tank as they were, as you needed to be able to rotate the ISU-152. Because you wasted time moving forward and then turning around, it gave enough time for the M36s to knock out the other tanks destroyers and the last light tank on your team."

Erwin nodded, taking note of the failures in this battle. It was a combination of tactical decisions that threw this match. She sighed as she sat down, with Belle following suit. Parker stood at ease in front of both teams.

"That said, it was a close match over all, with both teams losing roughly two thirds of their tanks," Parker explained. "And this is the first time both teams went up against another team, so don't get discouraged by the results of this match."

The conversation carried on for a little bit, with minor critiscm here and there, but overall Erwin knew that Parker and Harper were pretty much done explaining the match. As they were dismissed, Erwin got up and walked over to Belle and Angeline.

"Good match," Erwin said, extending her hand out.

"You weren't bad yourself," Belle said, shaking her hand. "I am kind of thankful our tankery instructor wasn't here today?" Erwin raised an eyebrow; wasn't Lt. Parker their instructor. Upon seeing Erwin's confusion, Angeline explained.

"Well, Lt. Parker is the class's teacher, but our instructor came from Saunder's High," Angeline stated. "She is very smart and gifted in tankery, but let's just say she is too much at times."

"Yeah, she was so enthusiastic when she first came here, she was bouncing all over the place," Belle continued. "She was the one who insisted we use nothing but American made tanks."

"I see," Erwin said. "So do you guys think you will get anymore tanks in the future?"

"Maybe," Belle said. "But if we do, I hope we get some M18 Hellcats, I think they were slightly better than the M36 just because they were much faster. What about you guys?" Erwin shrugged.

"I rather get improvements of our current tanks," Erwin began. "I don't like that most of tanks lack decent armor, but I guess it is something we will have to deal with."

"I get it," Belle said. "But still, having more tanks can help negate that issue somewhat." Erwin shook her head.

"But if you are facing an enemy team with the same number of tanks, having tanks with inferior army is basically giving the enemy early kills," Erwin countered. "If the tanks are fast and can exploit that speed that is one thing. But as you saw in our battle, my team's tank destroyers and light tanks were slaughtered because they couldn't take a hit."

She saw the sisters think about it before shrugging.

"Well, I see mobility and firepower as more crucial than armor," Belle said. "But I suppose if you had a fleet of heavy tanks that the enemy couldn't penetrate, than it might make sense. But history showed it wasn't the tanks with the heaviest armor that survived, but the ones that could avoid being hit."

Erwin was about to argue, but at that moment Harper called everyone to get back on the buses. Erwin quickly said good bye to the twins, who promised to see Erwin during the nationals. She smirked, looking forward to a rematch against Salem High, vowing to win next time, regardless of what they bring to the battle.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: ARGH! This chapter was throwing punches in my face, taunting me with me taking over a month to publish this chapter. But here it is at last. Now, since only one person reviewed the last chapter and I PM last week about an inquiry he sent me, I won't do a recounting of the reviews. Thought next time I publish (probably in two weeks) I will cover the reviews. But onto some explanations on things that are occurring in the story.<strong>

**First off, I am working on the four teams that Raven's Peak will face off against**,** and it has been balancing them that has drained most of my time. I want them to be unique and challenging to Raven's Peak, so that the story won't be a wash out.**

**Secondly, I am going to not bother with a romance in this story. I thought I could do it, but in the end it is more distracting that it is anything else. So to hell with romance, and focus all efforts on doing a good tankery story.**

**Finally, I will do a couple of OMAKES (omakes? Eh, whatever) that will show the US and Japanese tankery tournaments that aren't crucial to the story. They will be like side chapters, to give more flavor to the story and provide more context to the story. So if you have any suggestions for unqiue teams, especially American teams, send them to me. There will be one, maybe two more chapter before we start the national tournament, and they will focus on Erwin and Raven's Peak getting their shit together.**

**And as always, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Change in plan

* * *

><p>Erwin was stretching her various limbs, as she was currently in JROTC. They had just got done doing a two mile run uphill, leaving everyone, except for Captain Proctor, feeling sore and tired.<p>

"Dear god," Katie moaned. "Did we have to do it uphill? My calves are feeling like they are on fire." Erwin nodded numbly.

"Well, it wouldn't have been so bad if we could go our pace," Erwin started. "But the captain is surely too gung-ho for us, right?"

In all retrospect, having a former Ranger that was used to having to do a five minute mile with sixty pounds of gear on his back keeping the tempo for a two mile run with a bunch of normal high schoolers wasn't the best of ideas. Without those sixty pounds of gear on his back, it was like he wanted to torture the class's legs. As the class was l outside the school, stretching their burning limbs, Captain Proctor spoke up.

"Alright everyone, enough moaning," Cpt. Proctor said calmly. "Class is almost over, so get ready for you final class of the day." He walked into the school, obviously heading back to the JROTC room. Erwin sighed, thankful that she didn't bring her text books with her to JROTC, as she would need to go to the JROTC, run to her locker, put her books away, and then go to the tankery hangar. Something her legs wouldn't hear shit about.

"So, Riko, what do you think will happen today?" Katie asked. "I heard from Henrietta that something is happening in Tankery." Erwin raised an eyebrow, and looked at Henrietta.

"Um, what did you hear?" Erwin asked Henrietta. Henrietta twiddled with her fingers, not liking being put on the spot.

"Well, I overheard Erika talking to Sgt. Harper about some upgrades," Henrietta said. "However, beyond that, I heard that the winners of the nationals will be going to the international tournament this summer."

"When was that announced?" Erwin asked. Henrietta shrugged nonchalantly.

"I read about it last night," Henrietta explained. "So far, the confirmed nations that will take part in the international tournament are as followed; the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the US. They are setting up the tournament battles as we speak, with no clear favorites other than Japan, if only due to their experience in tankery."

"I see," Erwin said. "Well, I hope that the Japanese team isn't Pravda or Black Forest Academy; they tend to favor overwhelming their enemy with superior firepower from heavy tanks."

"I agree," Katie said. When Erwin and Henrietta looked at her, Katie huffed in annoyance. "What I can't be the tankery fanatics you guys are? I just know I don't want to face a team with numerous heavy tanks given thatmost of our team lacks the necessary firepower need to crack them."

"Fair enough. But I just hope the international tournament is still fun to watch. So anyway, let's continue this discussion in tankery class, alright?" Henrietta suggested. Both Erwin and Katie nodded, and the three hurried to the tankery hangar. They were thankful that Cpt. Proctor gave them the extra time to get to the hangar today, as unfortunately the halls were more crowded than usual.

When they got to the hangar, Erwin saw Joan and Christine were already there, as were Jackie's and Sarah's tank crew. As she walked in, Erwin saw both Jackie and Sarah approaching her.

"Hey, Riko, got a minute to talk?" Jackie said, her face a bit too cheerful for Erwin's liking.

"Um, yeah," Erwin said. "What's up?" She saw that Sarah was glaring behind Jackie's back, so whatever it was Sarah wasn't pleased with it.

"Well, remember the deal we had when it came to the tankery leadership?" Jackie asked. Erwin nodded, before mentally face-palming. Was Jackie really going to suggest she be made team captain due to their defeat by Salem High?

"Well, as you recall, you said that if you r were losing us battles or coming close to it, which we can't afford in the nationals, then I could take over."

"I did," Erwin begrudgingly admitted. "Why, are you really going to suggest you take over being the captain of our team?" Jackie nodded, and Erwin saw Sarah's face turn red.

"Oh come on!" Sarah shouted. "It was a single defeat, and it was a close battle. Sure, she made a few mistakes, but…"

"But they did cost us the battle," Jackie interrupted Sarah. "We can't afford mistakes, and as a result I think I should take over. I won't use half-baked plans and I won't put our team into what equates to a shoot off at close quarters."

"But I've seen your ideas for plans!" Sarah protested. "They all focus on slow battle maneuvers and clearing a sector before moving out. You take no risks, and it is easy to tell what your next move is!"

"Enough," Erwin said calmly. "Fine Jackie, you want to be captain, fine. But if you end up nearly losing the battle, as decided by Sarah, then I would like to be remade captain." She saw Sarah nod, even though she was irked by Erwin's willingness to step down. Jackie smiled.

"Fair enough," Jackie said. "But I won't lose or put the team in danger, so I have nothing to fear." Erwin nodded, and she walked back to her team, which was gathered by the ISU-152.

"So I guess we are following Jackie into the first tournament battle then?" Katie said. "Ugh, this is going to suck." Erwin shrugged.

"Well, it wasn't like I had a choice," Erwin said. "I did after all agree to those terms, regardless if they were fair or not. I did lose, and I did say if I cost us a victory that she could take over, so yeah, she is taking over the team."

Before anyone could talk any further, both Sgt. Harper and Erika walked in.

"Everyone gather around, we have much to discuss," Sgt. Harper called forth. Everyone assembled in formation at the front of the garage, looking at their tankery teacher. Erwin saw he looked tired, with bags under his eyes. He was standing in front of a curtain, hiding something.

"Now, with the tournament coming close, and the battle of Salem High showing some weakness with our team, both Erika and I have begun a process to improve the team beginning first with updating some of the tanks."

He pulled back the curtain, and Erwin was amazed by what she saw. She saw four tanks, two were Matildas and two were M10 tank destroyers.

"First off, we upgraded the firepower of the Matilda tanks with 76mm cannons, as they were hopeless against even mere M4 Shermans. Next, we replaced the Marder IIIs with the M10 tank destroyer, as the ambush element was forced to rely heavily on getting support from the assault group, weakening the overall effectiveness of both groups."

Erwin saw Vera's and Astrid's crews smiling at their new tank destroyers. While they didn't say much before, they had mentioned in private that they hated the Marder IIIs, finding them uncomfortable and a pain to operate. Meanwhile Paula's and Thatcher's crews were a bit hesitant, and for good reason. The Matilda, once fitted with a 76mm cannon, was tight in the turret, which would be a pain for the crew.

At this point, Erika spoke up.

"In addition to these changes, we are going to up the training regimen from one mock battle a week to three, with practices being held after school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hopefully, the extra practice will let us improve team structure."

"Also, depending on our performance in the tournament," Erika continued. "We could see an expansion of our tank fleet to a further 15 tanks. As a result, both Sgt. Harper and I decided to allow you guys to choose what tanks you guys want to drive, within reason. This however is only if we get to the finals, and if you guys can find others to take command of your former vehicle. So please keep this in mind, and use your experience to determine what vehicles you will want to field."

Erwin could see a lot of the crews begin talking, trying to determine if they want to get a new vehicle or not. Erwin saw the practicality of getting more tanks on the field; it added to the overall firepower and gave the enemy more targets to shoot at. However, there was the issue of having to find a replacement crew for the older vehicles. She could see Christine alright looking forward to a new tank, as she hated loading the 152mm cannon for the ISU-152.

"Now then, let us begin practice," Erika said, and Erwin could see everyone scrambling to their tanks. She just hoped that the changes would be a good start to allow Raven's Peak a chance at the finals.

* * *

><p>It was finally October 30th, the day that Raven's Peak's tankery team would disembark for the opening ceremony for the US tankery tournament in Washington D.C. The month before had been filled with a lot of practice. As Erwin prepped the ISU-152, making sure that it had enough fuel to drive itself into and out of the cargo plane at Joint-Base Lewis-McChord, she reflected on the practice.<p>

With Jackie leading the team, she noticed that the team's coordination seemed to improve. When they were doing fire on the move while traversing a forest, Jackie was able to maintain control and order, and the team was able to engage multiple targets, scoring several hits before reaching their objective. In addition, when the team was 'under fire' (Erika and Sgt. Harper would have pop up targets and declare which tanks were knocked out), the team under Jackie was better able to retreat in order, while also getting a couple of parting shots.

That said, Erwin knew that Jackie was far from being the ideal leader. Jackie became so focused with coming up with a plan before battle that it took a solid ten minutes before they rolled out from the starting line, and Erwin knew that time was a precious commodity in battle. It was the deciding factor in who won the strategic points, decided whether you were ready or not, and it could decide the battle. She feared that a ten minute delay would cost them the battle, but since they hadn't gotten themselves into battle, Erwin couldn't object to it.

Aside from Jackie being leader, the ambush element (which Erwin was thankfully still the leader of) had drastically improved with the gaining of the M10 tank destroyers. Astrid's and Vera's crew made good use of the turret, often leading and guarding the rear of the ambush element's columns. They often situated themselves on the flanks of the element, allowing the others to focus forward on the target zone.

Erwin stepped back from the ISU-152, and admired the paint job it had gotten. All the tanks in Raven's Peak's team had gotten a uniformed paint scheme. It was done in the SMK pattern that Russian Spetsnaz forces used. The three colors were black, navy blue, and gray, as Jackie preferred to try and take city centers instead of using forest for cover. Erwin though a woodland pattern would've been better, but she figure that since the nationals would include multiple teams, having tanks that stood out was a safe call just in case of friendly fire situations.

She saw Christine and Katie talking to one another, both obviously looking forward to heading to D.C., which Sgt. Harper explained they would stay for three days after the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was to centerpiece each of the 32 teams, all driving in formation, down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House. Following the opening ceremony the next day would be the reveal of the first round of matches, something Erwin was optimistic about. After that would be a day to explore the various museums and the like.

Erwin was given a decent amount of money to for her use by her mother, who was enjoying her work at MTS. She knew that Joan, Christine, and Katie were planning their own thing at the mall, so Erwin decided to ask Henrietta about what she was planning to do in D.C., as Erwin didn't have any plans so to speak.

"Riko," Joan called, dragging Erwin out of her thoughts. "The ISU-152 is fueled up and everything is secured. We're done here."

"Good work," Erwin said. "So let's go to the others, I know that the buses to take us to the air base, will be arriving soon, so we better get a move on."

She led her crew to the front of the garage, where the other crews were waiting patiently for the buses to arrive. She saw Jackie talking to the tank commander of the assault group, with all of them nodding in approval at Jackie being the current captain. Erwin saw Sarah and a few other commanders mainly those of the ambush element, look on at Jackie with a bit of an annoyance.

One of the flaws with Jackie's plans was that that ambush element was often relegated to something akin to a rear echelon position; guarding the back and not doing much in battle. They only really saw action when the assault group needed some extra firepower, but if it wasn't the case, then they sat back, bored out of their minds.

Meanwhile, the scout element was often thrown into danger, just to get the assault group information on where the enemy was heading. Sarah often complained that Jackie often sent them out in a arcing wave, that when they got to the outer extents of the field, would make all the tanks in the scout group alone and with no support. Erwin suggested that the ambush element could act as a force to help the scouting element, but Jackie told her 'that the ambush element must guard the rear'.

"So Erwin," Henrietta began as they were standing around waiting. "Do you think we got a good chance at making it to the finals?" But before Erwin could reply, Christine voiced her opinion.

"I don't know, but we could always wait until the bookies calculated the odds," Christine said. "If we get something like 4-1, then yeah, we got good odds, but otherwise we will have to work to win."

"Is gambling that big of a thing in the US?" Erwin asked. Christine nodded.

"I know that during the Super bowl, bookies have to be cautious, as if the game is an upset, like with the 2014 Super bowl, then the bookies could owe more money than they get with the opposing bets."

"The big thing is that bookies use more statics and charts than anyone I can know to calculate the odds. So they will probably be watching the opening ceremony and calculating the odds based on the number of tanks, the type of tanks, the school's performance in other sports, and probably including the funds the school has for tankery. So if we want a good estimate of our likelihood, just wait for the bookies to calculate our odds."

"Well, there is that view," Katie spoke up. "But since tankery is new to the US, the likelihood of the bookies getting the odds right are unlikely. It will take a couple of years before the bookies get the odds sorted out, right?"

"I suppose," Christine said. Erwin sighed; betting was a tiresome affair, and not something she engaged in.

"Anyway," Erwin spoke up, trying to get off the topic of gambling. "Let's just focus on the task at hand; we will deal with the odds of us winning with each battle we take part in. If we distract ourselves with the odds, either by losing faith or being overly cocky, then we could throw the match away. So let's ignore what the odds are for the moment and just focus on what we got to do."

"Alright," Henrietta said. "But aside from Salem High, does anyone know what the other teams will field for the tournament?"

Everyone shrugged, because until the day of the ceremony, no one knows what the tanks the other teams will be fielding. Erwin wanted to win, but she knew that the other teams would be unique and have their own doctrines and vehicles to choose from. As a result, Erwin was hoping that the teams they faced for the first match would be composed of outdated tanks, if for nothing more so they get an easy win and then analyze the results of the first round of matches.

"Not yet," Joan replied, supplying the answer everyone had. At that moment, the buses arrived, and Erika walked to the buses.

"Everyone, get on board!" she yelled out. "The automotive repair club will get the tanks onto the trailers and drive them to the airfield. But as we have a plane to catch, everyone get on board!" Erwin took a deep breath, and lead her crew onto the buses, knowing that tomorrow would be a busy day indeed.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Alright, another chapter out, and yes, it is 1 day late, but I was tired yesterday, so there's that. Anyway, let's get to the reviews;<strong>

**-SovietKitty (badass name btw): Yeah, I had to drop the romance, as it was distracting from the main appeal of the story. A good decision overall in my opinion.**

**-Wolfhunter107: Ah, I am waiting a little before giving Raven's Peak some medium tanks. And before you ask, I haven't finalized what tanks the 'Guards Division' of Raven's Peak will be using.**

**-Theralion: I will agree, my detailing the battle was cumbersome, as I wanted to keep in a way that you could tell what the person's PoV was while being able to describe the battle. In the end it became a bit cumbersome. It is something I will work on for the upcoming battles.**

**As for how Jackie dealt with the loss, well, I covered it in this chapter. We will see Jackie be at the helm of being team captain for the first (maybe second) battle before she royally fucks up, and I alluded to it towards the end of this chapter. The match being a loss was something that worked out well for me, as it gave me some interesting ideas for this story.**

**I also think that the two teams discussing the strategies after the battle would really take place. I based it somewhat on army war games, where the commanders would review the battle so they could improve and have a more difficult and close battle next time. I know it isn't often covered, but I will be covering it for the battles, as Sgt. Harper and Erika will be trying to improve the team by telling them what they did right and wrong.**

**As for the omakes, well it will be interesting. You will get to see the other teams as they compete against one another, and explain how they got so far into the tournament. Also, it will allow me to go back to Ooarai and give the results of the Japanese tankery. I promise, it will be good (hopefully).**

**-Severstal: You made a good point about the battle, and the reason the points your brought up are there is because I had a clumsy execution of what was happening in the battle. I should've found a better way to do the battle in hindsight, but it has shown me what not to do for the upcoming battles. I won't go into much details with your points, but I do acknowledge the faults. I will try and give a better description of the enemy teams and have Sgt. Harper and Erika be better teachers.**

**Also, about battle plans, I will be doing a better job of having the commanders follow through with their plans in the future. But not much to say on this atm.**

**That is it for the reviews, however, next week we get to see the opening ceremony, Erwin and the team encounter some of the other teams in D.C., and we get to see who Raven's Peak will be going up against in the first round. As always, please follow, favorite, and review!**


	13. Author's Note: The New story

**Author's Note: I know, this isn't an update on this long sleeping story, and I apologize for that, especially to my avid reviewers, my adoring followers, and the good people that favorited this story. **

**That said, I have an announcement to make; this story is being rewritten, but it will be done in a different story post. The reason is that I updated the first chapter and it didn't send an email to you guys when I did, and thus I didn't want to rewrite 12 chapters only for you guys to notice once I started on the 13****th**** chapter.**

**Therefore, as I said, this update is being sent to tell you guys that the first two chapters of the rewrite are up. They are similar to the first two chapters of this story, with some revisements made. Please read them and their accompanying A/Ns, but know that the 3****rd**** chapter will be out before the end of May (hopefully).**

**Thank you and see you over at 'Of Blood and Steel: The Rewrite'. **

**-Panzer4life**


End file.
